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CIRCULAR 



FROM THE 



GENERAL LAND OFFICE, 



SHOWING 



THE MANNER OF PROCEEDING 



TO 



OBTAIN TITLE TO PUBLIC LANDS UNDER THE PRE-EMPTION, 
HOMESTEAD, AND OTHER LAWS. 



ISSUED MARCH 1, 1884. 



WASHINGTON^: 

GOVERNMENT PRlNTINa OFFICE 

1884. 



CIRCULAR 



FROM THE 



^GENERAL LAND OFFICE, 



SHOWING 



THE MANNER OF PROCEEDING 



TO 



OBTAIN TITLE TO PUBLIC LANDS UNDER THE PRE-EMPTION, 
HOMESTEAD, AND OTHER LAWS. 



ISSUED MARCH 1, 1884. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

1884. 






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5 



IN REFERENCE TO THE MANNER OF ACQUIRING TITLE TO THE PUBLIC LANDS. 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 

General Land Office, 
Washington, D. C, March 1, 188Ip, 

The public lands of the United States are included within the States of 
Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, 
Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, 
Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Wisconsin, and the Territories of Arizona, Dakota, 
Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. In 
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois a very few isolated tracts of public land remain. 

These States and Territories — with the exception of the three last men- 
tioned — are divided into land districts, in each of which there is a land 
office established by law, with a Register and a Receiver in attendance for 
the sale or other disposal of the public lands within that district. (For 
duties of Register and Receiver, see sections 2234 to 2247 of the Revised 
Statutes of the United States, copy to be found in Appendix annexed. No. 1 .) 

Any proper information regarding vacant public lands may be obtained 
by application at any of these land offices. 



* ACQUISITION OF TITLE. 

Title to public lands may be acquired by purchase at public sale, or by 
ordinary private entry, and by virtue of the pre-emption, homestead, timber- 
culture, and other laws. 

PURCHASE AT PUBLIC SALE. 

Lands may be purchased at public auction by the highest bidder w^hen 
offered pursuant to proclamation of the President, or under public notice 
in accordance with directions from the General Land Office. (Rev. Stat., 
Sees. 2353, 2357, 2358, 2359, 2360, 2455.) 

PRIVATE ENTRY OR LOCATION. 

Lands which, having been offered at public sale, remain unsold, if not 
afterward reserved or withdraw^n from market, are liable to private entry 
or location. (Rev. Stat., 2354, 2357; Appendix No. 1.) 

* MINIMUM AND DOUBLE-MINIMUM LANDS, 

No land shall be sold, either at public or private sale, at less than one 
dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, which is therefore called the ^^ min- 
imum price;'' and lands held for sale at that price are called '^minimum 
lands." (Rev. Stat., 2357; Appendix No. 1.) 

3 



Where one-half the public lands within a prescribed distance along the 
line of any railroad, military road, or other work of internal improvement, 
have been granted to aid in the construction thereof, the alternate sections 
reserved to the United States are, under the provisions of the granting acts 
and other statutes, doubled in price, and held for sale at two dollars and 
fifty cents per acre, which is therefore called ^he ^^ double-mimmuui price;" 
and such lands are called "double-minimum lands." (Rev. Stat.. 2357.) 

All lands which were put in market at the enhanced (double-minimum) 
price prior to the 1st of January, 1861, were, by the third section of the 
act of Congress of June 15, 1880, reduced in price to $1.25 per acre. 
They are not, however, subject to private entry at the reduced price until 
again offered at public sale (21 Stat., 237; Appendix No. 5 — Eldred v. 
Sexton, 19 Wall., 169). 

MODE OF PROCEEDING IN MAKING CASH PURCHASES. 

Any person desiring to purchase a portion of the public land for cash 
must present a written application to the register for the district in which 
the land described is situated, describing the tract and giving its area (see 
Form 4-001). If the tract is vacant, the register will so certify to the 
receiver, stating the price, and the applicant must pay to the latter the 
amount of the purchase-money. Thereupon the receiver will issue his 
receipt in duplicate to the purchaser for the money paid (Form 4-131). 
The register will then issue his certificate of purchase (Form 4-189). 

At the close of the month the register and receiver will make returns 
of the sale to the General Land Office, fr'-^m which, when the proceedings 
are found regular, a patent or complete title will be issued; and on sur- 
render of the duplicate receipt such patent will be delivered, at the option 
of the patentee, either by tlie Commissioner at Washington, or by the 
register at the district land office. (Rev. Stat., Sees. 2245, 2355, 2356.) 

CASH PURCHASE BY TIMBER TRESPASSERS. 

In addition to the foregoing in reference to purchase at public offering 
and purchase or location at ordinary private entry, it is to be noted that 
the first section of the act of Congress of June 15, 1880 (21 Stat., 237; 
Appendix No. 5), having reference to cases of timber trespasses upon the 
public lands committed prior to March 1, 1879, extends to such trespassers 
the privilege of paying for the land upon which the offenses were so com- 
mitted at the price per acre for which, under the law in force at date of 
payment, the lands could be sold. This privilege of purchase is not con-' 
fined to lands subject to private entry, but extends to any lands, not mineral^ 
subject to disposal under general existing laws. 

This section cannot be construed to ])ermit a party who falls within the 
class of offenders named to enter the land if the valid claim of another 
person shall have attached prior to his application to purchase and be still 
subsisting. 

Where lands are plainly subject to ordinary private entry, no special 
application to purchase, other than the usual application in cases of priv^ate 
entry^ is required in order to enable the purchaser to avail himself of the 
benefits of this act. When lands are not plainly subject to ordinary pri- 
vate entry, and application to purchase the same shall be made with a view 



to securing the immunity contemplated by said first section, the district 
officers will require the application to be presented under oath of the appli- 
cant, giving a full and detailed statement of all the facts upon which he 
bases his claim to purchase. Such sworn statement must be corroborated 
by the affidavits of credible witnesses, and the officers will thereupon for- 
ward all the papers in a special letter to this office, and await instructions 
before admitting an entry. Entries allowed will be included in the regular 
cash returns and accounts, the papers being issued as usual in cash entries, 
on which will be made a note referring to the statute and to the Commis- 
sioner's letter authorizing the same. 

WARRANT LOCATIONS. 

Warrants issued to soldiers of the United States as a bounty for military 
services may be located upon any public land subject to private entry at 
the time of such location, application being made the same as if cash were 
to be paid as the consideration for the laud. The warrant must be duly 
assigned. The amount of land called for by the warrant must be located 
in a compact body. (Rev. Stat, 2414, 2415.) 

(Bounty warrants were not issued to soldiers and sailors for military 
services in the late civil war. The only privileges granted them in con- 
nection with the public lands will be found set forth hereai'ter, under the 
head "Homestead Entries,^' P^g^ 21. The bounties for military services 
in the last war were not given in landj but in money.) 

Military bounty warrants are not locatable upon any public lands except 
such as are at the time of location subject to sale at the minimum price, or 
one dollar and a quarter per acre (section 6 of act of March 3, 1855; 10 
Stats., 702). Therefore, where the holder of a warrant wishes to obtain 
land subject, to double minimum price he must furnish a Avarrant of such 
denomination as will, at the value of ^1.25 ]^er acre, cover the rated price 
of the land, or he must pay one dollar and a quarter per acre in addition 
to the surrendered warrant. For example : a tract of forty acres of land 
held at $2.50 per acre can be paid for with an eighty-acre warrant, or with 
a forty-acre warrant and fifty dollars in cash. 

If there is a small excess in the area of the tract over the quantity 
called for on the face of the warrant in any case, such excess may be paid 
for in money. If the tract contains a less number of acres, rated at $1.25 
per acre, the warrant must be surrendered in full satisfaction. (Rev. Stat., 
Sec. 2415; Appendix, IS'o. 1.) 

The following fees are chargeable by the land officers, under section 2238 
of the Revised Statutes, for their services in the location of land warrants, 
and the several amounts must h^ paid at the time of loaation: 

For a 40-acre warrant, 50 cents each to the register and receiver: total $1 00 

For a 60-acre warrant, 75 cents each to the register and receiver ; total 1 50 

For an 80-acre warrant, $1 each to the register and receiver ; total . 2 00 

For a r20-acre warrant, $1.50 each to the register and receiver; total 3 00 

For a 160-acre warrant, $2 each to the register and receiver ; total 4 00 

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE SCRIP LOCATIONS. 

Agricultural College scri]) issued under act of July 2, 1861 (12 Stat., 
503), and March 3, 1883, (22 Stat., 484), may be used- 
First. In the location of land at '^private entry f' but when so used is 
applicable only to lands not mineral which may be subject to private entry 



6 

at $1.25 per acre, and is restricted to a technical ^^ quarter sedion,^^ — that 
is, land embraced by the quarter-section lines indicated on the official plats 
of survey; or it may be located on a part of a '^quarter section/^ where 
such part is taken as in full for a quarter; but it cannot be applied to 
different subdivisions to make an area equivalent to a quarter section. 
The manner of proceeding to acquire title with this class of paper is the 
same as in cash and warrant cases, the fees to be paid being the same as on 
warrants. The location of this scrip at private entry is restricted to three 
sections in each township of land, and one million acres in any one State, 
(15 Stats., 227.) 

Second. In payment of pre-emption claims, in the same manner and 
under the same rules and regulations as govern the application to pre- 
emptions of military land warrants ; this, too, without regard to the limita- 
tion as to the quantity located in a township or in any State. 

Third. In payment for homesteads commuted under section 2301 of the 
Revised Statutes of the United States. (Rev. Stat., Sec. 2278 ; Appendix 
]S"o. 1.) 



THE RIGHT OF PRE-EMPTION. 

Pre-emption right is the right of a resident upon public land to the pur- 
chase, within a given period, of a limited quantity thereof, in preference to 
other applicants, in consideration of prior settlement and improvement. 

QUALIFICATIONS OF PRE-EMPTION CLAIMANTS. 

Heads of families, widows, or single persons over the age of twenty-one, 
who are citizens of the United States, or who have declared their intention 
to become citizens, as required by the naturalization laws, may make claim 
by pre-emption to the extent of one quarter-section, or one hundred and 
sixty acres of "offered ^^ or '^unoffered'^ lauds, or of any of the unsurveyed 
lands belonging to the United States to which the Indian title is extin- 
guished. (Rev. Stat., Sees. 2257 to 2288; Appendix No. 1.) 

A person is not a qualified pre-emptor who has removed from land of 
his own to reside on public land in the same State or Territory, or who is 
the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land in any State or Ter- 
ritory. 

/ PRICE OF LAND TO PRE-EMPTORS. 

The price of land to a pre-emptor upon "minimum" lands — i. e., lands 
not within the limits of a grant to a railroad or some other work on inter- 
nal improvement — is one dollar and a quarter per acre. Within the limits 
of such grant the price is two dollars and a half per acre; but settlers, prior 
to w^ithdrawal, are allowed to enter at a dollar and a quarter per acre, pro- 
vided they shall file notice of their claims and make ])roof and payment as 
in other cases. (Rev. Stat., Sees. 2257, 2259, 2279, 2281; Appendix 
No. 1.) 

CLAIMS UPON OFFERED LANDS. 

Where the tract is ^'offerecV^ land, the party must file with the district 
land office his declaratory statement as to the fact of his settlement within 



thirty days from the date of said settlement ( Form 4-534), and within one 
year from date of settlement must appear before the register and receiver 
and make proof of his actual residence on, and cultivation of, the tract, and 
secure the same by paying cash, or locating thereon military bounty land 
warrants or agricultural college scrip, according to law ; or private claim 
scrip may now be used, under act of Congress of January 28, 1879. (20 
Stat., 274; Appendix No. 15.) 

CLAIMS UPON UNOFFERED LANDS. 

Where the tract has been surveyed and not offered at public sale, the 
claimant must file his declaratory statement within three months from date 
of settlement ( Form 4-535), and make proof and payment within tiiirty 
months after the expiration of the three months allowed for filing his 
declaratory notice, or, in other words, within thirty-three months from date 
of settlement (Forms 4-189, 4-536, and 4-535). 

CLAIMS UPON UNSURVEYED LANDS. 

Where settlements are made on unsurveyed lands, no definitive proceed- 
ings can be had as to the completion of the title until the surveys are 
extended over the lands and officially returned to the district land office. 
Within three months after the date of the receipt at the district land office 
of the approved plat of the township embracing their claims, settlers are 
required to file their declaratory statements with the register ( Form 4-535), 
and within thirty months from the expiration of said three months to make 
proof and payment for the tract (Forms 4-061, 4-374 a). 

A filing without actual settlement is illegal, and no rights are acquired 
thereby. 

The existence of a pre-emption filing on a tract of land does not prevent 
another filing for the same land, subject to any valid rights acquired by 
virtue of any former fi ling and settlement. 

BEFORE WPIOM THE DECLARATORY STATEMENT MAY BE MADE. 

The applicant may make the required affidavit before the register and 
receiver, or before the judge or clerk of any court of record of the county 
and State, or district and Territory, in which the land is situated ; or if that 
be an unorganized county, he may make such affidavit in a similar manner 
in any adjacent county in the State or Territory. (21 Stat., 169 ; Appendix 
No. 3.) 

Any person swearing falsely forfeits all right to the land and to the pur- 
chase money paid, besides being liable to prosecution under the criminal 
laws of the United States. 

RESIDENCE OF APPLICANT MUST BE STATED. 

The applicant must in every case state in his application his place of 
actual residence and his post-office address, in order that notices of contest 
or other proceedings relative to his entry may be sent him. 

ALTERATIONS IN APPLICATIONS. 

Applications to amend filings or entries should be filed with the register 
and receiver, and be by them transmitted for the consideration of the Com- 
missioner of the General Land Office. Registers and receivers will not 
change an entry or filing so as to describe another tract, or change a date, 
after the same has been recorded. 



8 

CONFLICTING PRE-EMPTION CLAIMS. 

When two or more settlers on unsurveyed land are found upon survey 
to be residing upon, or to have valuable improvements upon, the same 
smallest legal subdivision, they may make joint entry of such tract, and 
separate entries of the residue of their claims. This joint entry may be 
made in pursuance of contract between the parties, or without it. (Rev. 
Stat., Sec. 2274; Appendix No. 1.) 

PUBLICATION OF NOTICE OF FINAL PROOF. 

A settler desiring to make final proof of having complied with the pro- 
visions of the pre-emption law in respect to residence and cultivation, must 
first file with the register of the proper land office a written notice of his 
intention to do so (20 Stat., 472; Appendix No. 6). Such notice must 
describe the land claimed, and the claimant must give the names and res- 
idences of the witnesses by whom the necessary facts as to settlement, res- 
idence, cultivation, &c., are to be established ( Form 4-348). 

The filing of such notice must be accompanied by a deposit of sufficient 
money to pay the cost of publishing the notice to be given by the register. 

Upon the filing of the notice by the applicant, the register shall publish 
a notice that such application has been made, once each week for a period 
of thirty days, in a newspaper which he shall designate, by an order written 
on said application, as published nearest the land described in the applica- 
tion, and he shall also post said notice in some conspicuous place in his 
office for the same period. If published in a weekly paper, a compliance 
with the law will require the notice to be published weekly six times, as 
there must be thirty days between the first and last publications. 

The notice to be given by the register must state that application to make 
final proof has been filed ; the name of the applicant ; the kind of entry, 
whether homestead or pre-emption ; a description of the land, and the names 
and residences of the witnesses as stated in the application. (See Form 
4-347.) 

To save expense, the register may embrace two or more cases in one 
publication, when it can be done consistently with the legal requirements 
of publication, in a newspaper published nearest the land {sjs per Form 
following 4-347). 

When proof is filed that notice has been given in the manner and for 
the time required by law, the applicant will be entitled to make final proof. 

The proof that requisite notice has been given will be the certificate of 
the register that the notice of the application (a copy of which should be 
annexed to the certificate) was posted by him in a conspicuous place in his 
office for a period of thirty days ( Form 4-227), and the affidavit of the 
publisher or foreman of the newspaper that the notice (a copy of which 
notice must be annexed to the affidavit) was published in said newspaper 
once each week for six successive weeks, or for thirty days in a daily paper, 
as the case may be. 

The proof of the publication and posting of the notice nmst be filed and 
preserved by the register, to be forwarded to the General Land Office with 
the final papers when issued. 

FINAL PROOF. 

In making final proof the pre-emptor should appear in person at the 
district office, or before the clerk of the county court or of any court of 



9 

record of the county and State, or district and Territory, in which the land 
is situated, and make the affidavit prescribed. (Rev. Stat., Sec. 2262; 
Appendix No. 1, Form 4-061 ; 21 Stat., 169; Appendix No. 4.) 

If such affidavit is made before a clerk it must be duly authenticated by 
the seal of the court and transmitted to the register and receiver, together 
with the fees and charges allowed by law. 

If the land in any case is situated in an unorganized county, such affi- 
davit may be made in the manner indicated, in any adjacent county in the 
State or Territory. The fact that the county in which the land lies is 
unorganized, and that the county in which the proof is made is adjacent 
thereto, must be certified by the officer. 

Final proof, in addition to the affidavit, must consist of the testimony of 
the claimant, corroborated by that of at least two witnesses, taken sepa- 
rately, to the facts constituting his qualifications, and his compliance with 
law as to settlement, inhabitancy, improvement, non-alienation, &c. (Rev. 
Stat., Sec. 2263; Appendix No. 1; Forms 4-374, 4-375.) 

HEIRS OF A DECEASED PKE-EMPTOR. 

Should a pre-emptor die without establishing his claim within the period 
limited by law, the title may be perfected by the executor, administrator, 
or one of the heirs, by making the requisite proof of settlement and paying 
for the land, the entry to be made in the name of "the heirs'^ of the 
deceased settler, and the patent will be issued accordingly. The legal rep- 
resentatives of the deceased pre-emptor are entitled to make the entry at 
any time within the period during which the pre-emptor would have been 
entitled to do so had he lived. (Rev. Stat., Sec. 2269; Appendix No. 1. 

RELINQUISHMENT OF PRE-EMPTION FILINGS. 

Pre-emption filings may be relinquished by the claimants, in writing, 
filed with the register and receiver of the proper district land office, or 
the relinquishment may be executed by the claimant on the back of the 
declaratory-statement receipt. Notice of such relinquishment should be 
promptly forwarded by the register to the Commissioner of the General 
Land Office for his information. 

SECOND PRE-EMPTION FILINGS. 

The second filing of a declaratory statement by any pre-emptor who was 
qualified at the date of h"s first filing is illegal (see Sec. 2261 of the Rev. 
Stats.), where the first filing was made since the 22d of June, 1874 (the 
date of the Revised Statutes), and was in all respects legal, is not permitted. 
Where the first filing, however, was made prior to June 22, 1874, and was 
for iinofered lands, or is illegal from any cause not the willful act of the 
party, he has the right to make a second and legal filing. A second filing 
for offered lands has not been leo^al since the act of March 3, 1843. (5 Stats., 
619; Johnson v. Towsley, 13 Wall, 72.) 

PRE-EMPTION CLAIMANTS WHO BECOME INSANE. 

r The rights of a pre-emption claimant who has become insane may, 
under act of June 8, 1880, be proved up, and his claim perfected, by any 
person duly authorized to act for him during his disability. (21 Stat., 166 ; 
Appendix No. 13.) 



10 

Such claim must have been initiated in full compliance with law, by a 
person who was a citizen or had declared his intention of becoming a 
citizen, and was in other respects duly qualified. 

The party for whose benefit the act shall be invoked must have become 
insane subsequently to the initiation of his claim. 

Claimant must have complied with the law up to the time of becoming 
insane ; and proof of compliance will be required to cover only the period 
prior to such insanity; but the act will not be construed to cure a failure to 
comply with the law when the failure occurred prior to such insanity. 

The final proof must be made by a party whose authority to act for the 
insane person during his disability shall be duly certified under seal of the 
proper probate court. 

SUFFERERS FROM GRASSHOPPERS. 

The first section of the act of July 1, 1879, ^^for the relief of settlers 
on the public lands in districts subject to grasshopper incursions," provided 
that pre-emption settlers on public lands where crops have been destroyed 
or seriously injured by grasshoppers may leave and be absent from said 
lands for a period not to exceed one year continuously, under such rules 
and regulations as the Commissioner of the General Land Office shall 
prescribe, being allowed afterward to resume and perfect their settlement 
as though no such absence had occurred. The second section provided 
that the time for making final proof and payment by pre-emptors whose 
crops had been destroyed or injured as aforesaid might, at the discretion 
of the Commissioner, be extended for one year. (21 Stat., 48 ; Appendix 
No. 9.) 

The proof required in the first section of said act should consist of the 
affidavit of the claimant, giving the particulars of the alleged destruction 
or serious injury of crops by grasshoppers, and the afiidavits of two or 
more witnesses corroborative thereof, and should be submitted at time of 
making final proof through the register and receiver of the proper district 
land office. The particulars given should be such as to admit of a decision 
whether the absence was justified by law or not, and should indicate at 
what time the party left the land and when he resumed his settlement. 

A settler desiring to take advantage of the provisions of this act should 
file with the register and receiver a written notice of intended absence, 
bearing his own signature, and embracing a statement that he had sus- 
tained loss or failure of his crops. This should be noted on the tract-books, 
for the protection of the claimant and the information of parties who 
might otherwise make settlement and attempt to obtain title. 

Settlers desiring the extension of time provided for in the second section 
of the act should apply therefor through the same officers, the application 
to be supported by the same character of proof. 

The affidavits required in cases arising under said act should be made 
before the register or receiver of the district land office, or before any 
officer using a seal and authorized to administer oaths. 

SUFFERERS FROM DROUGHT IN KANSAS AND NEBRASKA IN 1879 OR 1880. 

The act of June 4, 1880, "for the relief of certain homestead and pre- 
emption settlers in Kansas and Nebraska,'' provided that pre-emption 
settlers on the public lands, or pre-emption settlers upon Indian reserva- 



11 

tions, in the States of Kansas and Nebraska west of the sixth principal 
meridian, where there was a loss or failure of crops from unavoidable 
cause in the year 1879 or 1880, might leave and be absent from said lands 
until the first day of October, 1881, under such rules and regulations as 
to proof and notice as the Commissioner of the General Land Office might 
prescribe — such settlers being allowed to resume and perfect their settle- 
ments as thouo;h no such absence had occurred; and the time for makino; 
final proof and payment by such pre-emptors was extended for one year. 
In cases where the purchase money was by law payable in installments, 
the first unpaid installment was held not to be due until one year after the 
expiration of the leave of absence aforesaid. (21 Stat., 543; Appendix 
No. 10.) 

The lands to which the provisions of this act applied are included within 
the land districts of Wichita, Salina, Concordia, Larned, Kirwin, Wa 
Keeney, Oberlin, and Garden City (all the districts except Topeka and 
Independence), in Kansas; and Niobrara, Lincoln, Grand Island, North 
Platte, Bloomington, Beatrice, Neligh, Valentine, and McCook (all the 
districts), in Nebraska. Land lying east of the one hundredth meridian 
in any one of these districts does not come within the provisions of this act. 

This act, since it referred to a loss or failure of crops during only the 
years 1879 or 1880, is now obsolete; but pending cases will be adjudicated 
under the original instructions, w^hich were as follows : 

This right of absence is not available in any case in which there has not been "a loss or 
failure of crops from unavoidable cause in the year 1879 or 1880;" hence, when a settler not 
actually entitled to the benefits of this act absents himself from his claim, it will be liable to 
be regarded as an abandonment, and adverse claims may be recognized. 

The settler desiring to leave his claim under this act should file with the register and 
receiver of the proper district land office a written notice of his intention to do so, bearing his 
signature, and embracing a statement that he has sn.stained a loss or failure of his crops in 
1879 or 1880, this being necessary for his own protection, and as notice due parties who might 
otherwise initiate claims to the land. 

At date of final proof by any party Avho shall have availed himself of this act he must 
show by satisfactory proof the period of absence, and specific facts making appear the loss or 
failure of crops from unavoidable cause in 1879 or 1880, on account of which he w^as entitled 
to its benefits. The proof should consist of the party's own testimony, corroborated by that 
of two or more disinterested witnesses. 

After a party sh.oll have filed the notice of intended absence under this act, no contest 
involving his right to the land can be histituted prior to the expiration of the legal term of 
absence to which he is entitled. If the party should be fraudulently absent, it will be a mat- 
ter of investigation in the regular manner thereafter. All notices filed wnll be duly entered 
on the records of the district office, and reported with the final proof made in the case. 



THE HOMESTEAD PRIVILEGE. 

The homestead privilege is the right granted to actual settlers upon 
public land, under certain restrictions as to actual qualifications, and upon 
compliance with prescribed conditions as to residence, cultivation, and 
improvement, to receive a patent for a limited quantity, not exceeding one 
hundred and sixty acres, without payment except the entry fee required 
by law. 

APPLICATION FOR A HOMESTEAD. 

To obtain a homestead the party must, in connection with his applica- 
tion (Form 4-007 j, make an affidavit (Form 4-063) before the register 
and receiver that he is over the age of twenty-one or the head of a family; 
that he is a citizen of the United States, or has declared his intention to 



12 

become such ; and that the entry is made for his exclusive use and benefit, 
and for actual settlement and cultivation; and must pay the legal fee and 
that part of the commissions which is payable when the entry is made. 

Where a wife has been divorced from or deserted by her husband, so 
that slie is dependent upon her own resources for support, if in fact the 
head of a family she can make homestead entry as such. 

Where the applicant or some member of his family is residing upon, 
and has made actual settlement on and improvement of the land he desires 
to enter, but is prevented by reason of bodily infirmity, distance, or other 
good cause, from personal attendance at the district land office, the affidavit 
may be made before the clerk of the court for the county within which the 
land is situated. (Rev. Stat., 2294; Appendix No. 1.) 

In such cases the applicant must state in a supplemental affidavit the 
facts of such settlement, improvement, and residence; what acts of settle- 
ment have been performed, and when made ; the nature, extent, and value 
of the improvements ; what member or members of his family are residing 
on the land, and the length of time such residence has been maintained, and 
the cause, specifically, 'why the applicant cannot appear at the local office. 

A person in active service in the Army or Navy of the United States, 
whose family or some member thereof is residing on the land which he 
wishes to enter, and upon which a bona fide settlement and improvement 
has been made by them, may make the affidavit required by law before 
the officer commanding in the branch of service in which the applicant is 
engaged. (Kev. Stat., 2293; Appendix No. 1.) 

The applicant must in every case state in his application his place of 
actual residence and his post-office address, in order that notices of contest 
or other proceedings relative to his entry may be sent him. 

HOMESTEAD SETTLERS ON UNSUHVEYED LANDS. 

A homestead settler on unsurveyed public land not yet open to entry 
must make entry within three months after the filing of the township plat 
of survey in the district land office. (21 Stat., 140; Appendix No. 18.) 

SIMULTANEOUS APPLICATIONS. 

In cases of simultaneous applications to enter' the same tract of land 
under the homestead laws, the rule is as follows: 

First. Where neither party has improvements on the land, the right of 
entry should be awarded to the highest bidder. 

Second. Where one has actual settlement and improvement and the 
other has not, it should be awarded to the actual settler. 

Third. Where both allege settlement and improvements, an investigation 
must be had and the right of entry awarded to the one who shows prior 
actual settlement and substantial improvements so as to be notice on the 
ground to any competitor. (Report of General Land Office for 1866, p. 19 ; 
also case of Halfrich vs. King, 3 Copp, L. 0., p. 164.) 

FEES AND COMMISSIONS. 

The commissions and fees for homestead entries in Michigan, Wisconsin, 
Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Dakota, xllabama, Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida (also in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, 



13 



if any vacant tracts should be found liable to entry in those States), are as 
follows: (Rev. Stat., 2238; Appendix No. 1.) 



Acres. 


Price 
per 
acre. 


Commissions. 


Fee. 


Total of fee and 


Payable when 
entry is made. 


Payable when 
certificate issues. 


Payable when 
entry is made. 


commissions. 


160 
80 
40 

160 
80 
40 


$2 50 
2 50 
2 50 
1 25 
1 25 
1 25 


$8 00 
4 00 
2 00 
4 00 
2 00 
1 00 


$8 00 
4 00 
2 00 
4 00 
2 00 
1 00 


$10 00 
5 00 
5 00 
10 00 
5 00 
5 00 


$26 00 

13 00 

9 00 

18 00 

9 00 

7 00 



In the States and Territories on the Pacific slope and adjacent thereto — 
to wit, in California, Oreo:on, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, 
New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana — the commissions and 
fees are fifty per cent, higher than in the other States and Territories, being 
as follows: (Rev. Stats., Sec, 2238, paragraph 12; Appendix No. 1.) 





Price 
per 


Commissions. 


Fee. 




Acres. 








Total of fee and 








• • 




acre. 


Payable when 


Payable when 


Payable when 


commissions. 






entry is made. 


certificate issues. 


entry is made. 




160 


$2 50 


$12 00 


$12 00 


$10 00 


$34 00 


80 


2 50 


6 00 


6 00 


5 00 


17 00 


40 


2 50 


3 00 


3 00 


5 00 


11 00 


160 


1 25 


6 00 


6 00 


10 00 


22 00 


80 


1 25 


3 00 


3 00 


5 00 


11 00 


40 


1 25 


1 50 


1 50 


5 00 


8 00 



On compliance by the party with the foregoing requirements, the 
receiver will issue his receipt for the fee and that part of the commissions 
paid (Form 4-137), a duplicate of which he will deliver to the party. The 
matter will then be entered on the records of the district office and reported 
to the General Land Office. 

INCEPTIVE RIGHTS OF HOMESTEAD SETTLERS. 

An inceptive right is vested in the settler by the proceedings herein- 
before described. He must, within six months after making his entry, 
establish his actual residence, in a house, upon the land, and must reside 
upon and cultivate the land continuously, in accordance with law, for the 
term of five years. 

At the expiration of that time, or within two years thereafter, upon 
proper proof to the satisfaction of the land officers (Forms 4-070, 4-369, 
4-370) and payment to the receiver of that part of the commissions 
remaining to be paid, the receiver will issue his receipt therefor, and the 
register will issue certificate (Forms 4-140, 4-196), and make proper 
returns to the General Land Office as the basis of a patent or complete 
title to the homestead. 

The period of continuous residence and cultivation begins to run at the 
date of actual settlement, in case the entry at the district land office is 



14 

made within the prescribed period (three months) thereafter. (21 Stat., 
141 ; Appendix No. 18.) 

DEFINITION OF '^CULTIVATION." 

In grazing districts, stock-raising and dairy production are so nearly 
akin to agricultural pursuits as to justify the allowance of entry upon 
proof of permanent settlement and the use of the land for such purposes. 

GRASSHOPPERS AND DROUGHT. 

Homestead claimants, equally with pre-emptors, may avail themselves 
of the provisions of the laws extending the time of settlement in regions 
that have suffered from drought (see page 10; 21 Stat., 543; Appendix 
No. 10) or the devastations of grasshoppers (see page 10; 21 Stat., 48; 
Appendix No. 9). 

Where a homestead claimant was absent under the provisions of these 
acts, the time of making final proof was not thereby extended (the proviso in 
respect to extension of time being limited in its application to pre-emptors). 

CLIMATIC HINDRANCES. 

The proviso annexed to section 2297, Rev. Stats., by amendatory act of 
March 3, 1881 (21 Stat., 511; Appendix No. 11), which applies "only to 
homestead settlers, provides that in case such settler has been prevented })y 
climatic reasons from establishing actual residence upon his homestead 
within six months from date of entry, the Commissioner of the General 
Land Office may, in his discretion, allow him twelve months from that date 
in which to commence his residence. 

In such case the settler must, on final proof, file with the register and 
receiver his affidavit, duly corroborated by two credible witnesses, setting 
forth in detail the storms, floods, blockades by snow or ice, or other hin- 
drances dependent upon climatic causes which rendered it impossible for 
him to commence residence within six months. A claimant cannot be 
allowed twelve months for entry when it can be shown that he might have 
established his residence on the land at an earlier day; and a failure to 
show that he exercised proper diligence in so doing as soon as possible 
after the climatic hindrances disappeared will imperil his entry in case of a 
contest. 

PUBLICATION OF NOTICE OF FINAL PROOF. 

A settler desiring to make final proof of having complied with the pro- 
visions of the homestead law in respect to residence and cultivation, must 
file with the register of the proper land office a written notice of his inten- 
tion to do so (20 Stat., 472; Appendix No. 7), to be followed by publica- 
tion of the same in some newspaper to be designated by the register — such 
notice and publication to be substantially in accordance with the directions 
relative to notice and publication in the case of pre-emption entry (see 
page 8, and Forms 4-347 and 4-348). 

FINAL PROOF. 

In making final proof the homestead party should appear in person, with 
at least two witnesses, at the district office, or, under act of March 3, 1877 



15 

(19 Stat., 403; Appendix No. 3), before the judge of a court of record of 
the county and State, or district and Territory, in which the land is situated, 
and there he and his witnesses must make the affidavits and final proof 
prescribed (Forms 4-070, 4-369, 4-370). 

If such proof is taken before a judge or clerk, it must be duly authenti- 
cated by the seal of the court and transmitted to the register and receiver, 
together with the fee and charges allowed by law% In case of the absence 
of the judge, the fact of such absence must be certified in the papers by the 
clerk acting in his place. 

As settlers on unsurveyed lands are allowed three months after the filing 
of the township plat of survey within which to put their claims on record, 
no final proof on homestead or pre-emption entries should be permitted 
until after the expiration of said three months. 

HOMESTEAD CLAIMANTS WHO BECOME INSANE. 

The rights of a homestead claimant who has become insane may be proved 
up, and his claim perfected, in the same manner and under the same restric- 
tions as in the case of a pre-emption claimant who becomes insane (see 
page 9; 21 Stat., 166). 

HEIRS OF A HOMESTEAD SETTLER. 

Where a homestead settler dies before the consummation of his claim, 
the widow, or, in case of her death, the heirs, may continue settlement or 
cultivation, and obtain title upon requisite proof at the proper time. If the 
widow proves up, title passes to her; if she dies before proving up and the 
heirs make the proof, the title will vest in them. (See 2291, Rev. Stat.; 
Appendix No. 1.) 

Where both parents die, leaving infant children, the homestead may be 
sold for cash for the benefit of such children, and the purchaser will receive 
title from the United States ; or residence and cultivation may continue for 
the prescribed period, when the patent will issue to the children. (Sec. 
2292, Rev. Stat.; Appendix No. 1.) 

A homestead right cannot be devised away from a widow or minor chil- 
dren. 

In case of the death of a person after having entered a homestead, the 
failure of the widow, children, or devisee of the deceased to take up resi- 
dence on the land within six months after the entry, or otherwise to fulfill 
the demands of the letter of the law as to residence, will not necessarily 
subject the entry to forfeiture on the ground of abandonment. If the land 
is cultivated in good faith the law will be considered as having been sub- 
stantially complied with. 

CONVERSION OF PRE-EMPTION INTO HOMESTEAD CLAIMS. 

A person who has made settlement on a tract and filed his pre-emption 
declaration therefor, may change his filing into a homestead if he continues 
in good faith to comply with the pre-emption laws until the change is 
effected ; and the time during which he has resided upon and claimed the 
land as a pre-emptor will be credited upon the period of residence and cul- 
tivation required under the homestead laws. (20 Stat., 86; Appendix 
No. 1 2.) In his first homestead affidavit he must set forth the fact of a 
previous pre-emption filing, the time of actual residence thereunder, and the 



16 

intention to claim the benefit of such time, as provided for in the act. In 
making final proof on his homestead entry he is required, in addition to the 
usual affidavit and proof, to make the prescribed ^'pre-emption homestead 
affidavit'' (Form 4-071). 

COMMUTATION OF HOMESTEAD ENTRIES. 

If a homestead settler does not wish to remain five years on a tract, he 
may pay for it with cash, or warrants, or agricultural college scrip (Kev. 
Stat., 2301; Appendix 'No. 1). Or, since the passage of the act of Jan- 
uary 28, 1879 (20 Stat., 274; Appendix No. 6), payment may be made with 
private claim scrip. 

To entitle him to the land upon making such payment he must prove 
actual settlement, improvement, and cultivation from the date of entry to 
the time of offering proof — which must be a period of not less than six 
months ; the form of proof to correspond with the regular final proof in 
homestead cases, except that the affidavit must be that prescribed in Form 
4-069. A person commuting a homestead entry when he has not actually 
resided upon the land and improved and cultivated it as required by law, 
forfeits all right to the land and to the purchase money paid, and in addition 
thereto renders himself liable to criminal prosecution. 

The applicant must also prove actual settlement and cultivation from the 
date of entry to the time of offering proof — the form of proof to correspond 
with the regular final proof in homestead cases, except that the affidavit 
must be that prescribed in Form 4-069. - 

A further right of making cash payment for lands originally entered as 
a homestead accrues under the act of June 15, 1880 (21 Stat., 237; 
Appendix No. 5), which allows any party who had entered a homestead 
prior to that date (or any person to whom such party may have attempted 
to transfer his right by a bona fide instrument in writing) to pay the 
government price ( less the fee and costs) for the land covered by such entry, 
provided it was originally subject to entry, and provided it had not been 
subsequently entered by any other person under the provisions of law. 
(Maughn, 9 Copp, 56; Miller, ibid., 57; Weaver, ibid., 9; Bishop, ibid., 
95.) He cannot, however, be permitted to exercise such right so as to bar 
the preferred right of a contestant under act of May 14, 1880 (21 Stat., 
140), after judgment or forfeiture has become final. (Wright v. Pomeroy, 
December 16, 1883— Copp's Land Owner, vol. 10, p. 324.) 

In case the original homestead party applies to purchase, if he has lost 
bis duplicate receipt, he must make oath that he has not, prior to the pas- 
sage of said act, transferred nor attempted to transfer his homestead rights 
under said entry, and that he has not assigned his right to receive the repay- 
ment of the fees, commissions, and excess payments paid thereon. The 
register will certify to the receiver the amount to be allowed as credit for 
fees and commissions already paid, the applicant first making oath that said 
fees and commissions have not been repaid, and that no application for such 
repayment has been made. In case he had attempted to transfer his right 
he may still be permitted to purchase, upon filing proof of the consent of 
the person to whom such transfer was attempted to be made. 

ATTEMPTED TRANSFER OF HOMESTEAD RIGHTS. 

In case a party to whom a homestead settler has attempted to transfer 
his right desires to take advantage of the act, the register and receiver will 



17 

require tlie instrument in writing by which it was sought to transfer such 
homestead right to be filed, together with the best evidence attainable of 
the bona fide character of the transfer, including the affidavit of the party 
who seeks to purchase. 

In case of doubt as to the propriety of allowing the application to pur- 
chase, they should refer all the papers to the General Land Office, accom- 
panied by an expression of their opinion based upon a full recital of the 
facts. 

FORM OF ENTRY. 

The application must be made as in ordinary cash entry ( Form 4-001 ), 
and must be accompanied by the receiver's duplicate homestead receipt, or, 
if that has been lost or destroyed, by an affidavit setting forth such fact, 
and giving the register's and receiver's number and date of the original 
homestead entry. It must also be stated in the application that the same 
is made under the second section of the act of June 15, 1880. 

Entries under said second section will receive current register's and 
receiver's numbers in the regular cash series, and will be returned in the 
same manner as in other cases of cash entry, referring, however, in each 
instance, on the cash abstracts, certificates, and receipts, to the date of the 
act authorizing the entry, the register's and receiver's number of the orig- 
inal homestead application, and the amount allowed as credit for fees and 
commissions, as follows: '^Act June 15, 1880. Original homestead entry 
No. — . Credit for fees and commissions, $ ." 

Final homestead proof not being required in these cases, no advertise- 
ment or notice of intention to make final proof is necessary, and no final 
homestead fees are to be paid or collected. 

Warrants and scrip made receivable by law for lands subject to sale at 
private entry, or in commutation of homestead or pre-emption rights, are 
receivable for lands purchased under this act. 

Where land purchased under this act is paid for with warrants or scrip 
there would be no claim for repayment on account of the fee and commis- 
sions paid on the original homestead entry; and the existing rule must be 
observed, that where the value of warrants or scrip exceeds that of the 
lands entered therewith no repayment on account of such excess is authorized, 
but the warrant or scrip applied must be fully surrendered (see page 5). 

HOMESTEAD CLAIMS NOT SALABLE. 

The sale of a homestead claim by the settler to another party before 
completion of title vests no title or equities in the purchaser, and is not 
recognized by law, except in the peculiar case last referred to, where the 
attempted transfer took place prior to June 15, 1880. In making final 
proof, the settler is by law required to swear that no part of the land has 
been alienated except for church, cemetery, or school purposes, or the right 
of way of railroad. (Rev. Stat., 2288; Appendix No. 1.) 

RELINQUISHMENTS. 

Homestead claims may be relinquished in the same manner as pre- 
emption claims (see page 9). In case of the loss of the duplicate receipt 
an affidavit of such loss must accompany the written relinquishment. 

8198—2 



18 

ONLY ONE HOMESTEAD PRIVILEGE TO THE SAME PERSON PERMITTED. 

As the law allows but one homestead privilege, a settler relinquishing 
or abandoning his claim cannot thereafter make a second entry; although 
where the entry is canceled as invalid for some reason other than abandon- 
ment, and not the willful act of the party, he is not thereby debarred from 
entering again, if in other respects entitled, and may have the fee and 
commissions paid on the canceled entry refunded on proper application 
under the act of June 16, 1880. 

Where a party makes a selection of land for a homestead, he must, as a 
general rule, abide by his choice. If he has neglected to examine the 
character of the land prior to entry and it proves to be infertile or other- 
wise unsatisfactory, he must suffer the consequences of his own neglect. 

In some cases, however, where obstacles which could not have been 
foreseen, and which render it impracticable to cultivate the land, are dis- 
covered subsequently to entry (such as the impossibility of obtaining water 
by digging wells or otherwise), or where, subsequently to entry, and 
through no fault of the homesteader, the land becomes useless for agricul- 
tural purposes (as where by the deposit of "tailings^' in the channel of a 
stream a dam is formed, causing the waters to overflow), the entry may, in 
the discretion of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, be can- 
celed and a second entry allowed. But in the event of a new entry, the 
party will be required to show the same compliance with law in connection 
therewith as though he had not made a previous entry, and must pay the 
proper fees and commissions upon the same. 

CONTEST ON GROUND OF ABANDONMENT. 

Where application is made to contest the validity of a homestead entry 
on the ground of abandonment, the party must file his affidavit with the 
district land officers, accompanied by the affidavits of one or more witnesses 
in support of the allegations made, setting forth the facts on which his 
application is founded, describing the tract and giving the name of the 
settler. Upon this the officers will set apart a day for hearing, giving all 
the parties in interest due notice of the time and place of trial. 

In cases of inability to make personal service of the notice, and when it 
becomes necessary to serve it by publication, the act of Congress of June 3, 
1878, directs that the same shall ^*be printed in some newspaper printed 
in the county where the land in contest lies ; and if no newspaper be 
printed in such county, then in the newspaper printed in the county nearest 
to such land.'' After the trial, the land officers will transmit the testimony, 
with their joint report, for the action of this office, according to Rules of 
Practice approved Decembef 20, 1880, given in separate circular. 

The contestant must defray the expenses incident to such a contest. If 
he succeeds in the contest, and procures the cancellation of the entry, he 
will be notified thereof, and for a period of thirty days from such notice 
will be allowed a preference right over any other person to institute a claim 
to the land. (21 Stat., 140; Appendix No. 18.) 

ADJOINING FARM HOMESTEADS. 

A person possessing the requisite qualifications under the homestead law, 
owning and residing on land not amounting in quantity to a quarter- 



19 

section, may enter other land lying contiguous to his own to an amount 
which shall not, with the land already owned by him, exceed in the aggre- 
gate one hundred and sixty acres. For instance, if he has purchased or 
obtained from the Government or from any other party forty acres of land, 
he can, under the provisions of the homestead law, enter one hundred and 
twenty acres adjoining; if he is the owner of eighty acres, he can enter 
another tract of eighty acres; if he is the owner of one hundred and 
twenty acres, he can enter forty acres additional. (Sec. 2289, Rev. Stat.; 
Appendix No. 1.) The party must fulfill the requirements of the home- 
stead law as to residence and cultivation, but will not be required to remove 
from the land which he originally owned in order to reside upon and cul- 
tivate that which he thus acquires under the homestead law, since the whole 
one hundred and sixty acres are considered as constituting one farm or 
body of land, residence upon and cultivation of a portion of which is 
equivalent to residence upon and cultivation of the whole, except that 
patent for the adjoining homestead will not be issued until five years from 
date of entry thereof. 

ADDITIONAL HOMESTEADS WITHIN THE LIMITS OF GRANTS TO RAIL- 
ROADS. 

The law originally granting the homestead privilege gave to all citizens, 
or persons who had declared their intention to become citizens, the right to 
a homestead on surveyed public lands. This amount was limited to one 
hundred and sixty acres of the ordinary class of public lands — such as 
were held by law, when disposed of to cash purchasers, at $1.25 per acre; 
or to eighty acres of the class of lands embraced in alternate sections along 
the lines of railroads and other works of internal improvement, reserved 
to the United States in making grants of land in aid of the construction 
of such work — the price of such reserved lands being increased to $2.50 
per acre. (Eev. Stat., Sees. 2289 to 2312; Appendix No. 1.) 

The act of March 3, 1879, provided that from and after its passage ^'the 
even sections within the limits of any grant of public lands to any railroad 
company, or to any military road company, or to any State in aid of any 
railroad or military road, shall be open to settlers under the homestead 
laws to the extent of one hundred and sixty acres to each settler," thus 
doing away in this class of entries with the distinction which had existed 
under section 2289 of the Revised Statutes between minimum lands (those 
held at $1.25 per acre) and double-minimum lands (those held at $2.50 
per acre), so far as double-minimum lands might be found in efvefa sections 
within the limits of any railroad or military road. These provisions did 
not embrace double-minimum lands in odd numbered sections, nor wdthin 
the limits of grants for any description of public works other than rail- 
roads and military roads. (20 Stat., 472; Appendix No. 7.) 

In some of the States the even sections within a certain distance of the 
line of route were allotted to the land-grant railroads, while the odd sections 
were reserved to the United States. The act of July 1, 1879, extended 
the provisions of the act of March 3, 1879, above mentioned, to the odd 
(reserved) sections in the States of Arkansas and Missouri. (21 Stat., 46 ; 
Appendix No. 8.) 

There yet remained certain States (as Alabama and Mississippi) in which 
(as in Arkansas and Missouri) the land-grant railroads had been allotted 



20 

the even sections, while the United States had reserved the odd sections — 
which States were not embraced within the provisions of the act last men- 
tioned. But by the 3d section of the act of June 15, 1880, the odd sec- 
tions within the granted limits of such roads in Alabama and Mississippi 
(having been brought into market at double-minimum price prior to Jan- 
uary 1, 1861) were reduced in price to $1.25 per acre, and homestead set- 
lers were allowed one hundred and sixty acres of such lands. (21 Stat., 
237; Appendix No. 5.) 

In justice to parties who had already entered lands within the granted 
limits of land-grant railroads, and who had been, by the law as it existed 
at the date of such entry, restricted to eighty acres, it was further provided 
that any such person might enter eighty acres additional, adjoining the 
land embraced in his original entry, if such adjoining lands were subject to 
entry. (20 Stat., 472; Appendix No. 7; 21 Stat., 46; Appendix No. 8.) 

Such additional homestead entry is allowable, even though the original 
homestead entry had been commuted to a cash entry. 

A woman who has married since making the original entry is not 
thereby disqualified from making an adjoining homestead entry. 

In case, however, there should be no land subject to entry adjoining the 
original homestead, or if for any other reason the homestead party did not 
desire to select adjoining land, he might surrender his original entry to 
the Government for cancellation, and be entitled to enter land elsewhere, 
under the homestead law, the same as if the surrendered entry had never 
been made. (20 Stat., 472; Appendix No. 7; 21 Stat., 46; Appendix 
No. 8.) 

A person making additional entry of eighty acres, or new entry after 
surrender and cancellation of his original entry, can do so without payment 
of further fees and commissions. (20 Stat., 472 ; Appendix No. 7.) 

The residence and cultivation of such person upon the land embraced in 
his original entry shall be considered residence and cultivation for the same 
length of time upon the land embraced in his new entry, and will be 
deducted from the five years' residence and cultivation required by law; 
provided, that in no case shall a patent issue upon an adjoining or new 
homestead entry until the person has actually, and in conformity with the 
homestead laws, resided upon and cultivated the land embraced therein for 
at least one year. (20 Stat., 472; Appendix No. 7.) 

Where the additional entry, however, consists of land adjoining that 
originally entered, the homestead party will not be required to remove from 
the latter to reside upon and cultivate the former, since the two are consid- 
ered as constituting one farm or body of land. But even in such case, in 
order to fulfill the requirements of the proviso of tlie law of March 3, 1879 
(20 Stat., 472; Appendix No. 7), patent will not be issued for the land 
entered until at least a year from the date of its entry, no matter how com- 
pletely the demands of the law may have been complied with regarding 
the portion of the land constituting the original entry. 

In applying for an additional entry the party must make affidavit 
before the register and receiver, describing the tract upon which he resides 
as his original farm (Form 4-066). He must submit proof setting forth 
the particulars of his existing entry and of his compliance with legal 
requirements regarding the same (Form 4-369); and must make applica- 
tion and affidavit according to Forms 4-018 and 4-086. The proof herein 



21 

referred to is required in order to ascertain the status of the original entry 
at the date of application for the additional homestead, and to obtain the 
credit to which the party may be entitled for residence and cultivation of 
the original tract. 

In case, however, final proof on the original entry has been made and 
certificate issued, the requirement of proof as above directed may be omitted ; 
and in lieu thereof the register and receiver in reporting the case will 
make a reference to the certificate, giving its number and date, so that it 
may be identified on the records of the General Land Office. 

The preceding requirements having been complied with, the register and 
receiver, if they find the original entry to be intact upon their records, 
whether patented or not, will allow the entry applied for, note the same 
on their records, giving it the proper number in the regular homestead 
series, and report it with their monthly homestead returns, indicating its 
character as an additional entry on the margin of their monthly abstracts, 
with a reference to the original entry by its number and the description 
of the land. The money columns in the abstracts will of course be left 
blank, since there will be no fees and commissions paid. 

Should the person choose to surrender his existing entry of eighty acres 
in order to make entry elsewhere of one hundred and sixty acres, the 
register and receiver will receive his relinquishment, which shall specify 
for what purpose made, and be accompanied by the duplicate receipt issued 
for the relinquished entry, or by a statement under oath showing a good 
reason for its absence. They will report the case in a special letter to the 
General Land Office, and await instructions before proceeding further in 
the matter. The same provisions obtain regarding settlement and cultiva- 
tion, and the non-payment of fees and commissions, which have already 
been set forth in connection with adjoining homestead entries. 

The act opening the odd sections of the public lands to homestead entry 
to the amount of one hundred and sixty acres to each settler, where the 
efcen sections had been granted to railroads or military roads, applies only 
to Arkansas and Missouri. (21 Stat., 46.) Outside of those two States, 
therefore, where the odd sections have been granted to railroads, the even 
sections have not been opened to homestead entry to an amount exceeding 
eighty acres, and the provisions regarding adjoining homestead entries do 
not apply, unless such lands were brought into market at double-minimum 
price prior to January 1, 1861. (21 Stat., 237; Appendix No. 5.) 

The applicant for an additional homestead entry must swear that he did 
not serve in the Army or Navy of the United States for ninety days or 
more ; for persons who thus served were not restricted to eighty acres under 
previously existing laws, and consequently are not entitled to the benefits 
of the acts amending said laws. 

SOLDIEES' AND SAILOES' HOMESTEAD EIGHTS. 

Any officer, soldier, seaman, or marine who served for not less than 
ninety days in the Army or Navy of the United States during the rebel- 
lion^ and who was honorably discharged, and has remained loyal to the 
Government, is entitled to enter, under the provisions of the homestead 
law, one hundred and sixty acres of land, "including the alternate reserved 
sections along the line of any railroad or other public work." (Rev. Stat., 
2304; Appendix No. 1.) 



22 

The time of service, or, if the party was discharged from service on 
account of wounds or disabilities incurred in the line of duty, the whole 
term of enlistment, shall be deducted from the period of five years during 
which an ordinary claimant must, to perfect title, reside upon and cultivate 
the entered tract; but the party must, in every case, reside upon, improve, 
and cultivate his homestead for a period of at least one year after he shall 
have commenced his improvements. (Rev. Stat., 2305; Appendix No. 1.) 

A party applying for the benefit of this provision of the law must file 
with the register and receiver a certified copy of certificate of discharge, 
showing when he enlisted and when he was discharged ; or the affidavit of 
two respectable, disinterested witnesses corroborative of the allegations 
contained in the prescribed affidavit (Form 4-065) on these points, or, if 
neither can be procured, his own affidavit to that effect. 

' The filing must be accompanied by the oath of the soldier, stating his 
residence and post-office address, and setting forth that the claim is made 
for his exclusive use and benefit, for the purpose of actual settlement and 
cultivation, and not either directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of 
any other person ; and that he has not theretofore either made a homestead 
entry or filed a declaratory statement under the homestead law. (Form 
4-546.) 

As implied by the requirement of the oath, a soldier will be held to 
have exhausted his homestead right by the filing of his declaratory state- 
ment; it being manifest that the right to file is a privilege granted to 
soldiers in addition to the ordinary privilege only in the matter of giving 
them power to hold their claims for six months after selection, before entry; 
but is not a license to abandon such selection with the right thereafter to 
make a regular homestead entry independently of such filing. This is 
clear from the statutory language. Section 2304 provides that "the set- 
tler shall be allowed six months, after locating his homestead and filing 
his declaratory statement, within which to make his entry and commence 
his settlement and improvement;'^ and section 2309 requires him "in 
person '' to " make his actual entry, commence settlement and improvement 
on tlie same, and thereafter fulfill all the requirements of law." These 
must be done on "the same'' land selected and located by the filing. 

Following the accepted practice in pre-emption cases, the filing of a 
declaratory statement will not be held to bar the admission of filings and 
entries by others; but any person making entry or claim during the period 
allowed by law for entry of the soldier will do so subject to his right; and 
the soldier's application when offered within such time will be allowed as 
a matter of right and operate to exclude the intervening claim. 

soldiers' widows, or minor orphan children. 

The widow, if unmarried — or in case of her death or marriage, the minor 
orphan children — of any such officer, soldier, sailor, or marine may enter 
land under the same conditions as might her husband if living; and if he 
died during his term of enlistment, the widow or minor children shall have 
the benefit of the whole term of enlistment to be deducted from the time 
hereinbefore required to perfect title to the land. (Rev. Stat., 2307; Ap- 
pendix No. 1.) 

Minor orphan children can act only by their duly appointed guardians, 
who must file certified copies of the powers of guardianship, which must 



23 

be transmitted to the General Land Office by the registers and receivers 
with their abstracts of soldiers' declaratory statements. 

In case of widows, the prescribed evidence of military service of the hus- 
band must be furnished, with affidavit of widowhood, giving date of the 
husband's death. 

In case of minor orphan children, in addition to the prescribed evidence 
of military service of the father, proof of death or re-marriage of the mother 
must be furnished. Evidence of death may be the testimony of two wit- 
nesses, or a physician's certificate duly attested. Evidence of marriage may 
be certified copy of marriage certificate, or of the record of same, or testi- 
mony of two witnesses to the marriage ceremony. 

The ruling relative to the widow or minor children of a deceased home- 
stead party as to actual residence (page 15) is equally applicable to the 
widow or minor children of a deceased sailor or soldier ; if the land is cul- 
tivated in good faith the law will be regarded as substantially complied 
with, although the widow or children may not actually reside upon the land. 

A soldier's claim may be filed by an agent. 

Any such officer, soldier, sailor, or marine may file his claim for a tract 
of land through an agent, and may have six months thereafter within which 
to make his actual entry and commence his settlement and improvements 
upon the land. (Rev. Stat., 2309; Appendix No. 1.) 

An entry cannot be made for a soldier by an agent or attorney. 

In addition to the oath heretofore prescribed, the oath, in case of filing 
by an agent, must further declare the name and authority of the agent and 
the date of the power of attorney or other instrument creating the agency — 
adding that the name of the agent was inserted therein before its execution. 
It should also state in terms that the agent has no right or interest, direct 
or indirect, in the filing of such declaratory statement ( Form 4-545). 

The agent must file (in addition to his power of attorney) his own oath 
to the effect that he has no interest, either present or prospective, direct or 
indirect, in the claim ; that the same is filed for the sole benefit of the sol- 
dier, and that no arrangement has been made whereby said agent has been 
empowered at any future time to sell or relinquish such claim, either as 
agent or by filing an original relinquishment of the claimant ( Form 4-545). 

The foregoing rule, however, will not be construed to require the rejec- 
tion of an application to enter the tract filed upon after the lapse of six 
months, when climatic reasons are shown, which in case of an actual entry 
would, under the act of March 3, 1 881 (21 Stat., 511 ; Appendix No. 11), 
justify an allowance of one year for establishing residence; nor in cases 
where the failure results from sickness, misfortune, or any insurmountable 
cause, which shall be properly alleged and satisfactorily shown, and where 
no adverse right has intervened. 

Where such cause has prevented entry and an adverse right has been 
admitted, it will be held proper within the discretion of the General Land 
Office to allow an entry upon another tract: Provided, That it shall be 
shown to the full satisfaction of the Commissioner that the default was 
practically beyond the power of the claimant to avoid. 

In case any register and receiver have cause to believe that any filing 
offered for record is not presented in good faith, they will note such cause 
upon the same, and if it be sufficient to warrant rejection — such as a want 



24 

of proper authentication or other palpable defect — they will reject the same, 
allowing an appeal from their ruling according to the regular practice. 
Where such cause is not sufficient to warrant an authoritative ruling, they 
will admit the filing, subject to investigation, and immediately proceed to 
make proper inquiry into the matter, reporting their action at once to the 
Commissioner of the General Land Office. 

For the filing of a declaratory statement the register and receiver will be 
allowed to charge, each, a fee of one dollar. This fee the receiver will 
account for in the usual manner, indicating the same in his account as fees 
for '^homestead declarations,' ' which will be charged against the maximum 
of $3,000 now allowed by law. In the States and Territories for which 
fifty per centum additional is allowed (see page 13), the additional allow- 
ance will apply to the fee herein named. 

soldier's additional homestead entry. 

Any officer, soldier, seaman, or marine who served for not less than 
ninety days in the Army or Navy of the United States during the rebellion, 
who had, prior to June 22, 1874, made a homestead entry of less than one 
hundred and sixty acres, may enter an additional quantity of land, adjacent 
to his former entry or elsewhere, sufficient to make, with the previous entry, 
one hundred and sixty acres. (Rev. Stat., 2306; Appendix No. 1.) 

This right (extended by sec. 2307, Rev. Stat., to the widow, if unmar- 
ried, otherwise to the minor orphan children by proper guardian) is a per- 
sonal one, and is not transferable; it is not subject to assignment or lien, 
nor can it be exercised by another. 

The practice which formerly prevailed of certifying the additional right 
as information from the records of the General Land Office and permitting 
the entry to be made by an agent or attorney has been discontinued. 

The party desiring to make an additional entry, and being entitled there- 
to, must present himself at the land office of the district in which the land * 
he wishes to enter is situated, and make his application in the same manner 
as in case of an original entry (Form No. 4-008). 

In addition to the usual homestead affidavit the claimant must make a 
special affidavit showing — 

First — His identity as the soldier he represents himself to be, reciting 
his military service, and stating his present residence and post-office address. 

Second — The facts in detail, setting forth his right to make the additional 
entry, and that he has fully complied with the provisions of the homestead 
laws in the matter of residence upon, and cultivation and improvement of, 
his original entry, and stating whether or not he has proved up his claim 
and received a patent for the land. Proper reference must be made to the 
original homestead entry, giving the name of the district office wherein it 
was made, the date and number of the entry, and the description of the land. 

Third — That he has not in any manner previously exercised his addi- 
tional right either by entry or application, or by sale, transfer, or power of 
attorney, but that the same remains in him unimpaired. 

The foregoing affidavits must be sworn to and subscribed in the presence 
of the register or receiver. Tiiis rule must be strictly adhered to in order 
to avoid false personation ; and applications and affidavits presented to the 
register and receiver with signature attached will not he received. 

The foregoing rules will not be deemed to apply to cases where the addi- 
tional entry has heretofore been certified by the General Laud Office, nor to 
cases pending which were filed therein prior to JNLirch 16, 1883. 



23 

Where the party's first entry has been consummated, the register and 
receiver will require him to pay the same fee and commissions as in cases 
of original entry ; the receiver will issue his receipt for the money paid, 
and these papers will receive the current date and the proper numbers in 
their homestead series. Then, to complete the transaction — it being an 
object, for the convenience of business, that the additional entry papers 
and the final papers therefor, in such cases, shall be kept separate and dis- 
tinct — the party will make payment of the usual final commissions on the 
entered tract, for which the receiver will issue his receipt; the register will 
thereupon issue his final certificate for the additional tract (Form 4-197), 
the receipt and certificate to bear their proper numbers in the final home- 
stead series, likewise a reference to the original entry and to the final cer- 
tificate thereon by their numbers, and also by their district where the party's 
first entry shall have been made in a different district. 

In case the party has not made proof on his original homestead entry 
when he applies for additional land, he will be allowed to make the addi- 
tional entry on proper application, as above stated, and paying the usual 
fee and commissions, for which the receiver will issue his receipt, the 
papers to receive their proper numbers in the homestead series, with a 
reference thereon to the original entry. Thereafter, when the party shall 
make final proof on the original entry, he will be required to pay the final 
commissions on both entries, when a final receipt will be issued for the 
money, and thereupon a final certificate issued to call both for the tract in 
the original entry and the additional tract. On these papers the register 
and receiver will make a reference to the original and the additional entry, 
and on them one patent will issue for both. But where it happens that the 
original entry and the additional entry are made in different land districts, 
this rule must be departed from so far as regards the issuing of one final 
certificate and receipt for both. 

PARTIAL WAIVER OF HOMESTEAD RIGHTS. 

The election of a qualified party, when filing for a homestead, to take 
less than the law allows him, is construed as a waiver of his claim for a 
larger quantity; and the same in case of an adjoining farm entry or soldier's 
additional entry. 

( But when an additional homestead claim was filed for forty acres by a 
homesteader whose original entry was one hundred and twenty acres, and 
forty acres of this original entry had been canceled, but notice of the cancel- 
lation had not reached him when he filed for the additional forty acres, this 
was not considered a waiver of the full amount, since he filed for all that 
he supposed was due him.) 

The acts of March 3 and July 1, 1879, providing that a person who had 
taken a homestead to the extent of eighty acres within the granted limits of 
a railroad grant, on the alternate sections belonging to the Government, 
might enter an additional contiguous eighty acres, are not construed as 
allowing a person who elected to take but forty acres under the original 
homestead law to take an additional one hundred and twenty acres under 
these amendatory acts. 

INDIAN HOMESTEAD CLAIMANTS. 

Any Indian possessing the requisite qualifications may, under act of March 
3, 1875, take advantage of the provisions of the homestead law, except that 



26 

he canDot commute it into a cash entry (under section 2301, Rev. Stat.), 
and that his title is not subject to alienation or incumbrance, either by 
voluntary conveyance or by the judgment, decree, or order of any court, 
but remains inalienable for a period of five years from the date of the patent. 
(18 Stat., 420; Appendix No. 14.) 

An Indian desiring to enter public laud under this act must make appli- 
cation to the register and receiver of the proper district land office ; also an 
affidavit setting forth the fact of his Indian character ; that he was born in 
the United States ; that he is the head of a family or has arrived at the age 
of twenty-one years ; that he has abandoned his tribal relations and adopted 
the habits and pursuits of civilized life (Form 4-079), and this must be 
corroborated by the affidavits of two or more disinterested witnesses ( Form 
4-077). 

If no objection appears, the register and receiver will then permit him 
to enter the tract desired according to existing regulations, so far as appli- 
cable, under the homestead law, the register writing across the face of the 
application (Form 4-007) the words "Indian homestead — act of March 3, 
1875;'' they will note the entry on their records and make returns thereof 
to this office, with the affidavits submitted. 

Indian settlers upon the public lands of the United States, whether sur- 
veyed or unsurveyed, are entitled, on proper showing, to the benefits and 
privileges extended by the 3d section of the act of May 14, 1880. (21 
Stat, 140; Appendix No. 18.) 

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR DEBT. 

All lands acquired under the provisions of the homestead laws are ex- 
empt from liability for debt contracted prior to the issuing of patent 
therefor. (Rev. Stat., 2296; Appendix No. 1.) 



DEPOSITS FOR SPECIAL SURVEYS. 

When the settlers in any township (the land in which is not mineral or 
reserved to the Government) desire a government survey made thereof, 
and file an application therefor, and deposit in any Government depository 
to the credit of the United States a sum sufficient to pay for such survey, 
if the township is within the range of the regular progress of the public 
surveys, the Commissioner of Lhe General Land Office will instruct the 
Surveyor General to survey such township. (Sec. 2401, Rev. Stat.; 
Appendix No. 1.) The amount so deposited by settlers may be applied 
in part payment for their lands. (Sec. 2403, Rev. Stat.; Appendix 
No. 1.) ^ ^ 

The certificates issued for such deposits are assignable by indorsement; 
and while not receivable in payment for land at cash entry, except from 
the settlers who made the deposit, such certificates will be received in 
payment from settlers under the pre-emption law, or in commutation of 
homestead entries (20 Stat., 352); but the act of August 7, 1882 
(Appendix No. 1), restricts the application of certificates of deposit issued 
subsequently to its passage to lands situated in the district embracing 
the township the surveying of which is to be paid out of such deposit. 



27 

PARAMOUNT EIGHT OF AN ACTUAL SETTLER. 

According to the principles laid down in decisions by the United States 
Supreme Court and rulings of this Department, the right of a bona fide 
actual settler under the pre-emption, homestead, or timber-culture laws 
will be recognized as against any other party seeking title to the tract cov- 
ered by his settlement. 

STATES IN WHICH THERE ARE NO DISTRICT LAND OFFICES. 

Any vacant tracts of public land in States in which there are no land 
offices may, under the act of March 3, 1877 (19 Stat., 315,) "be entered 
at the General Land Office, subject to the provisions of law touching the 
entry of public lands, and the necessary proofs and affidavits required in 
such cases may be made before some officer competent to administer oaths, 
whose official character shall be duly certified by the clerk of a court of 
record, and moneys received by the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office for lands entered by cash entry shall be covered into the Treasury.'^ 
In carrying into effect the provisions of this act the following method will 
be observed : 

A clerk has been designated by the Commissioner to receive and act upon 
the applications which may be offered for such entries, and to have charge 
of the correspondence connected therewith. All moneys received go into 
the charge of the receiving clerk (designated under section 461 of the 
Revised Statutes), and any moneys found to belong to the United States 
on the cases when finally passed upon are turned over to the Treasury 
according to law. 

Applications will be immediately entered in a preliminary abstract for 
each State in the order in which they are received; will be carefully 
examined in connection with the plats, files, "and records, and admitted or 
rejected, according to the law and instructions governing the case. From 
such preliminary abstracts the admitted applications will be carried to a 
regular monthly abstract, and the proper certificates and receipts will be 
issued by the Commissioner, acting as ex officio register and receiver. The 
entries thus admitted will be properly posted in the tract-books, and the 
papers therefor placed on file, for such further action as may be necessary. 
These entries will be numbered consecutively in continuation of the series 
entered upon at the respective district offices. The applicants will be 
promptly advised of the result of the examination, and, where the desired 
entries are admitted, will be furnished with the appropriate paper, to be 
held as evidence of title until the delivery of the patents. 

In case of conflicting applications, that which is first received will be 
first acted upon, as above directed, and will be considered as giving the 
applicant the legal right to the tract applied for, if unexceptionable in 
other respects. 



28 
TIMBER CULTURE. 

THE ACT OF MARCH 3, 1873. 

The first act " to encourage the growth of timber on the western prairies " 
was passed March 3, 1873 (17 Stat., 605). It provided that "any person" 
(not restricting the privilege to heads of families, persons twenty-one years 
of age, and citizens or those who had declared their intention to become 
citizens of the United States) might under that act make an entry of not 
more than a quarter-section of the public land for the purpose of the culti- 
vation of timber thereon. The entryman was required to plant, protect 
and keep in a healthy growing condition, for ten years, forty acres of 
timber on the quarter -section entered — the trees not to be more than 
twelve feet apart each way. Final proof could be made at the expiration 
of ten years from the date of entry, or at any time within three years 
thereafter, when the party, or in case of his death his heirs or legal repre- 
sentatives, must prove his or their compliance with the law by two 
credible witnesses. 

THE ACT OF MARCH 13, 1874. 

March 13, 1874 (18 Stat., 21), an act was passed amendatory of, and 
from its date a substitute for, the act of March 3, 1873. This act restricted 
the privilege of timber-culture entry to citizens of the United Sta.tes, or 
persons who had declared their intention to become citizens, and who were 
heads of fa,milies or had arrived at the age of twenty-one years. Forty 
acres of timber on the quarter-section^and the like proportion in case less 
than a quarter-section w^ere ^tered — were required to be planted (not less 
than twelve feet apart each way), protected, and kept in a growing condi- 
tion. The party making entry was required to break ten acres of land the 
first year after the date of the entry, ten acres the second year, and twenty 
acres the third year ; and to plant ten acres of timber the second year, ten 
acres the third year, and twenty acres the fourth year ; or in proportion 
when the entry was less than a quarter-section. Final proof, substantiated 
by two credible witnesses to the quantity and character of the timber, 
could be made at the expiration of eight years from the date of entry, or at 
any time within five years thereafter. Entries made under the act of March 
3, 1873, could be completed and final proof made under the act of March 
13, 1874, upon compliance with the provisions of the latter act. In case 
of the death of a person who had complied with the provisions of the act 
for three (3) years the heirs or legal representatives had the option to con- 
tinue the compliance for the remainder of the eight years and to receive 
patent accordingly, or to receive patent for forty acres outright by relin- 
quishing all claim to the remainder. 

AMENDMENT OF MAY 20, 1876. 

The act of May 20, 1876 (19 Stat., 54), amendatory of the act of 1874, 
provided that whenever a party holding a claim or making final proof 
under said act should prove, by two credible witnesses, that the trees 
planted and growing on said claim were destroyed by grasshoppers during 
any one or more years, the time allowed in which to plant the trees and 



29 

make final proof should be extended the same number of years as the trees 
planted were so destroyed. It also provided that the planting of seeds^ 
nuts, and cuttings, when well and properly done, and the ground properly 
prepared and cultivated, should be considered a compliance with the tim- 
ber-culture act ; and that in case the seeds, nuts, or cuttings planted should 
not germinate and grow, or should be destroyed by the depredations of 
grasshoppers, or from other unavoidable accident, the ground should be 
replanted, or the vacancies filled within one year from the first planting. 
Parties claiming the benefit of this provision were to prove, by two good 
and credible witnesses, that the ground was properly prepared and planted,, 
and that the destruction of the seeds, nuts, or cuttings was caused by inevit- 
able accident. Under this act it is not necessary that the planting shall 
be done in one body, provided the several bodies, not exceeding four in 
number, aggregate the amount required and in the time required by the^ 
original and amended act. 

THE ACT OF JUNE 14, 1878. 

The act of June 14, 1878 (20 Stat, 113; Appendix No. 16), is amend- 
atory of the act of March 13, 1874, and as to all entries made since June 
14, 1878, is a substitute for the prior act. It authorizes heads of families 
or single persons who have attained the age of twenty-one years, who are 
citizens of the United States or have declared their intention to become 
such, and who have made no previous entry under the timber-culture laws,, 
to make entry of not more than one quarter-section — which may be por- 
tions of contiguous subdivisions of the same section, provided that such 
entry shall form a compact body of land. Not more than one quarter of" 
any section shall be thus entered ; and no person shall make more than 
one entry under this act. The land embraced in this application must be 
exclusively prairie land, or other land devoid of timber. The removal of 
a natural growth of timber will not render land subject to entry. (Sell- 
man V. Redding, 10 Copp, 275.) 

Before allowing any entry applied for, the register and receiver will, by 
a careful examination of the tract and plat books, satisfy themselves that 
the entry applied for will not conflict with any other entry or entries pre- 
viously made. They will require the party making application (as per 
Form 4-009) to file the prescribed affidavit that the entry is made for the 
cultivation of timber, and for his own exclusive use and benefit, in good 
faith, and not for the purpose of speculation (Form 4-073). If such 
affidavit is made before a justice of the peace (which the act permits), his 
official character and the genuineness of his signature must be certified 
under seal. 

They will require the party to pay the fee and that part of the commis- 
sion payable at the date of entry, for which the receiver will issue his 
receipt in duplicate (Form 4—142), giving the party a duplicate receipt. 
The payments required by law on a timber-culture entry are as follows : 
For eighty acres or leas, fee $6, to be paid at date of entry; commissions- 
$4; total $9. For more than eighty acres, fee $10 at date of entry; com- 
missions $4; total $14. Besides, in each case, $4 when final proof is made. 
No other fee, charge, gratuity, or reward is permitted to be paid or received 
for any services rendered at district land offices in connection with such 
entries. Fees and commissions in this class of entries the receiver will- 



30 

account for in the usual manner, indicating the same as fees and commis- 
sions on timber-culture entries; and they will be charged against the maxi- 
mum of $3,000 now allowed by law. 

No distinction is made, as to area or the amount of fee and commissions, 
between minimum and double-minimum lands. A party may enter 160 
acres of either on payment of the prescribed fee and commissions. 

The register and receiver will number the entry in its order in a sepa- 
rate series of numbers (unless they have already a series under the acts to 
which this act is amendatory, in which case they will number the entry as 
one of that series); they will note the entry on their records and report it 
in their monthly returns, sending up all the papers therein, with an 
abstract of the entries allowed during the month under this act. 

AMOUNT OF TIMBER TO BE CULTIVATED. 

The law requires that five acres on a quarter-section shall be broken or 
plowed the first year, and five acres the second year. The second year the 
first five acres must be cultivated to crop or otherwise. The third year the 
second five acres must be cultivated to crop or otherwise, and the first five 
acres must be planted in timber, seeds, or cuttings. The fourth year the 
second five acres must be planted in timber, seeds, or cuttings. Ten acres 
are thus to be plowed, planted, and cultivated on a quarter-section, and 
the same proportion when less than a quarter-section is entered. The 
whole ten acres, or the due proportion thereof, must be prepared and 
planted within four years from the date of the entry, five acres being pre- 
pared the first and second years and planted the third year, and five acres 
being prepared the second and third years and planted the fourth year. 
If the trees, seeds, or cuttings are destroyed by grasshoppers or by extreme 
and unusual droughts, the time of planting may be extended one year for 
every year of such destruction, upon the filing in the local office of an 
affidavit by the entryman, corroborated by two witnesses, setting forth the 
destruction and asking the extension of time provided for by the act. 

WHAT KINDS OF TREES CX)NSTITUTE "TIMBER.'^ 

The following classes of trees are recognized as "timber" within the 
meaning of the law, viz: Ash (including mountain ash or service-tree), 
alder, basswood, beech, birch, box-elder, black walnut, butternut (otherwise 
called white walnut), cedar, chestnut, cottonwood, elm, fir, hickory, honey- 
locust, larch, maple, oak, pine, spruce, sycamore (otherwise called button- 
wood or cotton-tree), white willow, whitewood (or tulip-tree); and other 
trees recognized in the neighborhood as of value for timber, for firewood 
or domestic use, or for commercial purposes. Fruit trees and shrubbery 
cannot be classed as "timber," and their cultivation is not sufficient to 
satisfy the demands of the law. 

FINAL PROOF. 

Final proof can be made at the expiration of eight years from date of 
entry, or at any time within five years thereafter. In making final proof 
it must be shown — 

First. That not less than twenty-seven hundred (2,700) trees of the pro- 
per character were planted on each acre required to be planted. 

Second. That the quantity and character of trees as aforesaid have been 
cultivated and protected for not less than eight years preceding the time of 
making proof. 



31 

Third. That at the time of making proof there are growing at least six 
hundred and seventy-five (675) living and thrifty trees to each acre. 

Perfect good faith must be shown by claimants. If trees, seeds, or cut- 
tings are destroyed, they must be replanted ; and not only must trees be 
planted, but they must be protected and cultivated in such manner as to 
promote their growth. 

All entries since June 14, 1878, are made under the act of that date. 
Parties who made entries under any of the former acts may complete the 
same and make final proof under the act of 1878, upon showing that they 
have had under cultivation, for at least eight years, the number of acres 
required by the act of 1878, and at the time of presenting final proof have 
the number of living and thrifty trees required thereby; but they need 
not show that they followed the manner of planting prescribed by the later 
act, if the planting was done in acordance with the requirements of any one 
of the preceding acts. 

In computing the period of cultivation the time runs from the date of 
entry, if the necessary acts of cultivation were performed within the proper 
time.' The preparation of the land and the planting of trees are acts of 
cultivation, and the time authorized to be so employed, and actually so 
employed, is to be computed as a part of the eight years of cultivation 
required by the statute. 

In making final proof the claimant (or, if he be dead, his heirs or legal 
representatives) must appear in person, with at least two witnesses, at the 
land office of the district in which the land is situated, and there make 
the necessary proofs; or the affidavit of the party may be made, and his 
testimony, and the testimony of his witnesses, given before a judge or clerk 
of a court of record in such land district. 

The officer administering the oath or taking the testimony must certify 
to the identity and credibility of the party appearing before him. 

The proof must set forth, specifically and in detail, all the facts of the 
case, showing when cultivation was commenced, the acts performed, amount 
of land plowed, cultivated, and planted, what was done in each year, the 
total number of trees planted, the total number growing, and their size 
and condition at date of proof, and any other facts or circumstances material 
to the case. (Forms 4-093, 4-385, and 4-386.) 

The register and receiver will carefully examine the evidence, and, if 
found sufficient to show that the claimant has fully complied with the law, 
they will proceed (on payment of the final commissions allowed by law) to 
issue the final certificate and receipt in the manner prescribed in Forms 
4-148 and 4-217. 

CONTEST OF TIMBER-CULTUEE ENTRY. 

If at any time after the filing of said affidavit, and prior to the issue of 
patent for the land, the claimant shall fail to comply with any of the legal 
requirements, then, and in that event, such land will be subject to entry 
under the homestead laws, or by some other person under the provisions 
of the timber-culture act. But the contestant must file his application to 
enter, under one or the other of these laws, at the time of initiating contest, 
or his right to contest will not be recognized by the Government. 

When a contestant shall file his application for entry, with the prescribed 
preliminary affidavit, showing qualifications, &c., the register shall indorse 



32 

upon such application the date of its presentation, and make the applica- 
tion and the contestant's affidavit setting forth the grounds of contest the 
basis for further proceedings, these papers to accompany the report submit- 
ting the case to the General Land Office. Should the contest result in the 
cancellation of the contested entry, the contestant may then perfect his own. 

LIABILITY FOR DEBT. 

'No land acquired under the provisions of the act of June 14, 1878, will 
in any event become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contract- 
ed prior to the issuing of the final certificate therefor. 



RELINQUISHMENTS. 

The first section of the Act of May 14, 1880 (21 Stat., 140; Appendix 
No. 18), provides that when a pre-emption, homestead, or. timber-culture 
claimant shall file a written relinquishment of his claim in the land office, 
the land covered by such claim shall be held as open to settlement and 
entry without further action on the part of the Commissioner of the Gen- 
eral Land Office. 

The foregoing portion of this circular has reference to public lands 
which are agricultural in character. There are special laws for the dis- 
posal of lands which are unfit for cultivation and valuable chiefly for timber 
or stone^ of saline lands, and of desert lands. 



TIMBER AND STONE LANDS. 

DEFINITION, LOCATION, AND TERMS OF SALE. 

■ Surveyed public lands in California, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington 
Territory, not included within any military, Indian, or other reservation, 
which are unfit for cultivation, and consequently for disposal under the 
homestead or pre-emption laws, non-mineral in character, and which have 
never been offered at public sale, valuable chiefly for the timber upon 
them or the stone they contain, may be purchased by citizens of the United 
States, or persons who have declared their intention to become such, in 
quantities not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to any one person or 
association of persons, at a price of not less than two dollars and fifty cents 
per acre. (Act of June 3, 1878; 20 Stat., 89; Appendix No. 17.) 

QUALIFICATIONS OF APPLICANT AND METHOD OF APPLICATION. 

A person applying to purchase a tract under the provisions of this act 
will be required to make affidavit before the register or receiver that he has 
made no prior application under this act; that he is by birth or naturaliza- 
tion a citizen of the United States, or has declared his intention to become 
a citizen. If native born, parole evidence to that fact will be sufficient; 
if not native born, record evidence of the prescribed qualification must be 
furnished. In addition, the affidavit must designate by legal subdivisions 
the tract which the applicant desires to purchase, setting forth its character 
as above ; stating that it is uninhabited, and contains no improvements 
(exce})t for ditch or canal purposes, if any such exist) save such as were 
made by and belong to the applicant; that he purchases the land for hi& 



33 

own exclusive use and benefit, and has not made any contract or agreement 
whereby any title he may acquire thereto shall inure in whole or in part 
to the benefit of any other person (Form 4-537). 

The affidavit must be made in duplicate, one copy thereof to be trans- 
mitted to the General Land Office by the register and receiver with their 
monthly returns. 

PUBLICATION OF NOTICE OF APPLICATION. 

The register will post notice of the application, embracing a description 
of the land by legal subdivisions, in his office, for a period of sixty days ; 
and shall furnish the applicant a copy of said notice, at the expense of the 
applicant, for publication in the newspaper published nearest the location 
of the land for a like period of time; which, in case of a weekly paper, 
will necessitate a publication in ten successive issues, since at least sixty 
days must intervene between the first and the last publication. 

At the expiration of the sixty days the applicant must furnish to the 
register of the land office satisfactory evidence that the notice was duly 
published as required by law. Such evidence must consist of a copy of 
the printed notice, and attached thereto the affidavit of the publisher or 
other person having charge of the newspaper in which the notice was 
published, setting forth the nature of his connection with the paper, and 
stating that the notice was duly published for the prescribed period ; also 
giving the dates of the first and last insertions. 

PROOF OF THE CHARACTER OF THE LAND. 

The applicant must present before the register and receiver proof show- 
ing the character of the land to be such as is contemplated by the law — to 
wit, that it is non-mineral, unoccupied, unimproved, unfit for cultivation, 
and valuable mainly for the timber (or stone) thereon. Such evidence 
must consist of the testimony of at least two disinterested witnesses, to the 
effect that they know the facts to which they testify from inspection of the 
land and of each of its smallest legal subdivisions (Form 4-371). The 
testimony may be taken before the register and receiver, or any officer in 
the district in which the land lies, authorized to administer oaths and using 
an official seal. 

FINAL PROCEEDINGS. 

Upon such proof being produced, if no adverse claim shall have been 
filed, the entry applied for may be allowed in pursuance of the provisions 
of the act. The receiver will issue his receipt for the purchase money and 
the register his certificate of purchase, numbering the entry in the regular 
cash series (Forms 4-001, 4-131, and 4-189). The register and receiver 
will enter the sale on their books, and make the usual returns therefor to 
the General Land Office, noting on the monthly abstracts opposite the 
entry, and on the entry papers, a reference to the act of Congress under 
which allowed. They will forward all the papers in the case with their 
returns to the General Land Office, except the retained duplicate statement 
filed under the second section of the act, to which the register will give the 
same number with the other papers for the entry, and retain it on the 
appropriate file with the formal application in his office. 

The register and receiver will be entitled to a fee of five dollars each for 
allowing an entry under said act, and jointly at the rate of twenty- two 

8198-3 



34 

cents and a half per hundred words for testimony reduced by them to 
writing for claimants, which will be accounted for as other fees. 

If, at the expiration of the sixty days' notice provided for, an adverse 
claim should be found to exist calling for an investigation, the register and 
receiver will allow the parties a hearing according to the rules of practice. 

APPLICATION BY AN ASSOCIATION OF PEESONS. 

In case of an association of persons making application for such an 
entry, each of the persons must prove the requisite qualifications, and their 
names must appear in and be subscribed to the sworn statement, as in case 
of an individual person. They must also unite in the regular application 
for entry, which will be made in their joint names as in other cases of joint 
cash entry. The forms prescribed for cases of applications by individual 
persons may be adapted for use in applications of this class. 



SALINE LANDS. 

Congress passed an act January 12, 1877 (19 Stat., 221; Appendix No. 
19), providing for the sale of saline lands in certain States. 

DETEEMINATION OF THE CHAEACTER OF THE LANDS. 

Should prima facie evidence that certain tracts are saline in character be 
filed with the register and receiver of the proper land district, they will 
designate a time for a hearing at their office, and give notice to all parties 
in interest, in order that they may have ample opportunity to be present 
with their witnesses. Such witnesses will be examined in regard to the 
extent of the saline deposits upon the given tracts, and whether the same 
are claimed by any person; if so, the names of the claimants and the 
extent of their improvements must be shown. 

The witnesses should be thoroughly examined as to the true character 
of the land in other respects; its agricultural capacities; what kind of 
crops, if any, have been raised thereon, or can be raised from land of such 
character; whether it contains any valuable deposit of mineral of any kind, 
or of coal. In short, the testimony should be as complete as possible ; and 
in addition to the points indicated above, everything of importance bear- 
ing upon the character of the land should be elicited at the hearing. 

The testimony taken at the hearing will be transmitted to the General 
Land Office by the register and receiver, with their opinion thereon. 
When the case comes before the General Land Office such a decision will 
be rendered in regard to the character of the land as the facts may warrant. 

DISPOSAL OF SALINE LANDS. 

Should the tracts be adjudged saline lands ^ the register and receiver will 
be instructed to offer the same for sale, after public notice, at the local land 
office of the district in which the same shall be situated, and to sell said 
tract or tracts to the highest bidder for cash, at a price not less than $1.25 
per acre. 

In case said lands should not be sold when so offered, they will be sub- 
ject to private sale for cash, at a price not less than $1.25 per acre, in the 
same manner as other public lands. 

Should the tract in question be adjudged agricultural or mineral, it will 
be subject to disposal as such. 



35 

LIMITATION OF THE OPERATIONS OF THE ACT. 

The provisions of this act do not apply to any lands within the Ter- 
ritories, nor to any within the States of Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, 
California, and Nevada, none of which have had a grant of salines by act 
of Congress. 



DESERT LANDS. 

DEFINITION AND LOCATION. 

By "desert land^' is meant land "which will not, without irrigation, 
produce some agricultural crop^' (section 2 of act of March 3, 1877; 19 
Stats., 377; Appendix No. 20). The expression ^^some agricultural crop^' 
does not refer solely to the amount of the crop; it refers also to the kind. 
If the land will produce "some'' crop of a kind and in amount sufficient 
to make the cultivation reasonably remunerative, it is not desert. Land 
along streams, or near bodies of water, which, without artificial irrigation, 
will produce grass sufficient for hay, is not "desert land'' within the 
meaning of the law, and is not subject to desert entry. 

Title to desert lands can be acquired, under the restrictions of the law 
(see 3d section), only in the States of California, Oregon, and Nevada, and 
the Territories of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, New 
Mexico, Wyoming, and Dakota. 

The amount of land which may be entered by any one person under the 
desert-land law can not exceed one section, or six hundred and forty acres, 
which must be in compact form. The requirement of compactness will be 
held to be complied with on surveyed lands when a section, or part thereof, 
is described by legal subdivisions as nearly in the form of a technical sec- 
tion as the situation of the land and its relation to other lands will admit, 
although parts of two or more sections may be taken to make up the quan- 
tity or equivalent of one section. But entries running along the margin or 
including both sides of streams, or being continuous merely in the sense of 
lying in a line so as to form a narrow strip, or in any other way showing 
a gross departure from all reasonable requirements of compactness, will 
not be admitted. In no case, where the full quantity of six hundred and 
forty acres is entered, will the side line on either side be permitted to 
exceed one mile and a quarter; and less in proportion in case the entry 
embraces less than a whole section or its equivalent. 

METHOD OF ACQUIRING TITLE. 

A party desiring to avail himself of the privileges of the desert-land act 
must file with the register and receiver of the proper district land office 
a declaration under oath (Form 4-274), which may be executed before 
either the register or receiver or the clerk of any court of record having a 
seal. It must be set forth that the applicant is a citizen of the United 
States, or that he has declared his intention to become such — in which case 
a duly certified copy of his declaration of intention to become a citizen 
must be presented and filed. It must also be set up that the applicant has 
made no other declaration for desert lands under the provisions of this act, 
and that he intends to reclaim the tract of land applied for by conducting 
water thereon, within three years from the date of his declaration. The 



36 

declaration must also contain a description of the land applied for, by legal 
subdivisions if surveyed, or if unsurveyed as nearly as possible without a 
survey by giving, with as much clearness and precision as possible, the 
locality of the tract with reference to the already established line of sur- 
vey, or to known and conspicuous landmarks, so as to admit of its being 
readily identified when the lines of survey come to be extended. 

Before the entry can be allowed it must be satisfactorily shown that the 
land described in the declaration is desert land within the meaning of the 
law. To this end the testimony of at least two disinterested and credible 
witnesses is required^ which will be reduced to writing in the usual man- 
ner; or the evidence may be furnished in the form of affidavits executed 
before the clerk of any court of record having a seal, the credibility of 
the witnesses to be certified by said clerk. The witnesses must clearly 
state their acquaintance with the premises, and the facts as to the condition 
and situation of the land upon which they base their judgment (Form 
4-074). Where the land is situated on the borders of a stream or lake 
evidence will also be required that the land in its natural state is not pro- 
ductive of hay. 

The proof above required having been made to the satisfaction of the 
district officers, the applicant will pay the receiver the sum of twenty-five 
cents per acre for the land applied for. The register will receive and file 
his declaration, and the register and receiver will jointly issue, in duplicate, 
a certificate (Form 4-199) acknowledging the receipt of the twenty-five 
cents per acre and the filing of the declaration. One of these duplicates 
will be delivered to the applicant; the other will be retained by the regis- 
ter and receiver with the declaration and proof. They will bear a number 
according to the order in which the certificate was issued. The register 
will keep a record of the certificates issued, showing the number, date, 
amount paid, name of applicant, and description of the land applied for in 
each case, and, in addition, he will note the same upon his plats and records 
as in cases of ordinary entry. At the end of each month he will, with 
his regular returns, forward to the General Land Office an abstract of the 
declarations filed and certificates issued under this act during the month, 
accompanying same with the declarations and proofs filed and the retained 
copy of certificate in each case. The receiver will also account for the 
money received under this act in the usual form. 

In any case where a declaration shall be filed for a tract on unsurveyed 
land, the register and receiver will immediately forward a copy of the 
declaration to the surveyor general in order that the proper survey may 
be made. The claim must remain a " float '^ until such survey shall have 
been made, when the applicant shall be required to take his land in form 
and limits corresponding to the legal subdivisions. 

FINAL PROOF. 

At any time within three years after the date of filing the declaration 
and the issue of certificate, the proper party may make satisfactory proof 
of having conducted water upon the land applied for in quantity sufficient 
to accomplish the reclamation of each smallest legal subdivision -or portion 
of forty acres or less. This proof must consist of the testimony of at least 
two disinterested and credible witnesses, who must appear in person before 
the register and receiver. They must declare that they have personal 



37 

knowledge of the condition of the land applied for, and of the facts to 
which they testify; and their testimony must be reduced to writing in the 
usual manner. (See Forms 4-372 and 4-373.) 

The final proof having been made to the satisfaction of the district 
officers, the party will surrender the duplicate certificate issued when the 
declaration was filed and make an additional payment of one dollar per 
acre for the land. For this the receiver will receipt in duplicate (Form 
4-143), giving the party a duplicate receipt; and the register will issue a 
final certificate of purchase ( Form 4-200). 

The register and receiver will give to these final certificates and receipts 
a special series of numbers, and at the end of each month will make sepa- 
rate abstracts of the same, sending up therewith the final certificates, 
receipts, and proofs. 



EXECUTION AND DELIVERY OF PATENTS. 

Patents will be executed in the name of the party making an entry or 
location, except in cases where the statute expressly recognizes the right of 
an assignee to take patent in his own name. (See departmental decision of 
July 27, 1880, in case of Whittaker v. Sou. Pac. P, P., 7 Copp, 85.) 

The recitals and description of land in patents will in all cases follow 
the register's certificate of entry or location, as prescribed by law. 

When patents are ready for delivery they will in all cases be transmitted 
to the local office at which the location or entry was made, where they can 
be obtained by the party entitled thereto, upon surrender of the duplicate 
receipt, or certificate, as the case may be, unless the duplicate shall have 
been previously filed in this office with a request that the patent be deliv- 
ered as requested by the person sending the same; and in no case will the 
patent be delivered either from this or the local office except upon receipt 
of such duplicate, or, in case of its loss from any cause, upon the filing in 
lieu of the same of an affidavit made by the present bona fide owner of 
the land, accounting for the loss of the same, and also showing ownership 
of the tracts or a portion thereof embraced in the patent. 



REPAYMENTS. 

CIECUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH REPAYMENTS ARE AUTHORIZED. 

Section 2362 of the Revised Statutes (Appendix No. 1) provides for 
the repayment to the purchaser, or his legal representatives or assignees, of 
any purchase-money, upon proof ^* that any tract of land has been errone- 
ously sold by the United States, so that from any cause the sale cannot be 
confirmed." 

Section 2 of the act of June 16, 1880 (21 Stat., 287; Appendix No. 
21), enlarges the scope of the former act, saying that ^'in all cases where 
homestead, or timber-culture, or desert-land entries, or other entries of 
public lands have been heretofore or shall hereafter be canceled for con- 
flict, or where, from any cause, the entry has been erroneously allowed and 
cannot be confirmed," the amount of purchase-money, fees, and commis- 
sions may be repaid. 



38 

DEFINITION OF *^ ERRONEOUSLY ALLOWED." 4 

This cannot be given an interpretation of such latitude as would counte- 
nance fraud. If the records of the Land Office, or the proofs furnished, 
should show that the entry ought not to be permitted, and yet it were per- 
mitted, then it would be "erroneously alio wed. ^^ But if a tract of land 
were subject to entry, and the proofs showed a compliance with law, and 
the entry should be canceled because the proofs were shown to be false, it 
could not be held that the entry was " erroneously allowed f' and in such 
case repayment would not be authorized. 

APPLICATION FOR REPAYMENT OF PURCHASE-MONEY. 

In case of applications for repayment where patent has not issued the 
duplicate receipt must be surrendered. The applicant must also make 
affidavit that he has not transferred or otherwise encumbered the title to 
the land, and that said title has not become a matter of record. This 
affidavit may be made before either the register or receiver of the district 
land office, or before a notary public or a justice of the peace, or other 
officer authorized to administer oaths. When made before a notary public 
or justice of the peace a certificate of official character is required. 

If the duplicate receipt has been lost or destroyed the party applying 
must advertise the fact of such loss, giving notice of his intention to apply 
for repayment of the purchase-money. This advertisement must be in- 
serted weekly for six weeks in some newspaper of extensive circulation in 
the vicinity of the land. A copy of the advertisement, with the affidavit 
of the publisher, or other person having charge of the paper, that it was 
inserted the requisite number of times, must accompany the papers in the 
case. Where the duplicate receipt has been lost or destroyed, a certificate 
will also be required from the proper recording officer showing that the 
same has not become a matter of record, and that there is no encumbrance 
of the title to the land thereunder. A like certificate must be furnished 
when the application is made by another than the original purchaser. 

Where a patent has been executed and delivered, it must be surrendered. 

Where the title has become a matter of record, and in all cases where 
patent has issued, a duly executed deed, relinquishing to the United States 
all right and claim to the land under the entry or patent, must accompany 
the application. This deed must be duly recorded, and a certificate must 
also be produced from the proper recording officer where the land is situ- 
ated, showing that said deed is so recorded, and that the records of his 
office do not exhibit any other conveyance or encumbrance of the title to 
the land. 

Where a valid title of the land embraced in a canceled entry has been 
conveyed by the Government to other parties, the applicant for repayment 
under such canceled entry must reconvey to the United States the title 
derived from such invalid entry. If, however, the applicant has acquired 
the valid title already conveyed by the United States, it will not be neces- 
sary for him to reconvey the land, but he may make a full statement, with 
corroborative evidence of the facts, waiving all claim under the invalid 
entry, and thereupon receive repayment of the amount erroneously paid. 

The reconveyance to the United States must conform in every particular 
to the laws of the State or Territory in which the land is located relative 



39 

to transfers of real property; in the case of a married man, there naust be 
a release of dower by the wife; and in case of an executor or administra- 
tor, due proof of authority to alienate the estate. 

HEIKS, EXECUTOES, AND ADMINISTEATOES. 

Where application is made by heirs, satisfactory proof of heirship is 
required. This must be the best evidence that can be obtained, and must 
show that the parties applying are the heirs and the only heirs of the 
deceased. Where application is made by executors, a certificate of execu- 
torship from the probate court must accompany the application. Where 
application is made by administrators, the original or a certified copy of 
the letters of administration must be furnished. 

REPAYMENT OF FEES, COMMISSIONS, AND EXCESSES. 

The^rs^ section of the act (of June 16, 1880, now under consideration) 
provides for the repayment to innocent parties of the fees, commissions, 
and excess payments made upon soldiers' additional homestead entries 
which were, after location, found to be fraudulent and void, and have 
therefore been canceled. 

Applications for repayment under this section must be accompanied by 
the duplicate receipt, or evidence of the loss of the same, and by a concise 
statement under oath setting forth all the facts and circumstances connected 
with the procurement and use of the fraudulent papers upon which the 
canceled entries were based, together with such documentary or other proof 
as may tend to establish the innocence of the parties relative thereto. 

In the case of soldiers' additional homestead entries, repayment of fees, 
commissions, and excesses can be made only to the party who paid the 
same — not to a party to whom the claimant conveyed the land. 

In the case of applications for the repayment of fees, commissions, &c., 
on canceled homestead and other entries, under the second section of 
the act, the duplicate receipt must be surrendered, with a relinquishment 
of all right, title, and claim in and to the land described in the receipt 
indorsed thereon, attested by two witnesses, and acknowledged before the 
register and receiver or before any officer authorized to take acknowledg- 
ments. If the duplicate receipt has been lost or destroyed an affidavit 
stating the fact must be furnished, together with a relinquishment of the 
character indicated. The applicant must make affidavit that he has not 
made another entry with the credit of the fee and commission paid by him 
on the canceled entry. 

ASSIGNEES. 

Assignees, within the meaning of the statute now under consideration, 
are persons who purchase the land after entry and take assignments of the 
title under such entry. To construe said statutes so as to recognize the 
assignment or transfer of the mere claim against the United States for 
repayment of purchase-money, or fees and commissions, disconnected from 
a sale of the land or attempted transfer of title thereto, would be against 
the settled policy of the Government and repugnant to section 3477 of the 
Revised Statutes, prescribing the manner in which assignment of claims 
must be made in order that they shall be recognized by the Government 
as valid. 



40 

Where applications are made by assignees, the applicants must show 
their right to repayment by furnishing properly authenticated abstracts of 
title, or the original deeds or instruments of assignment, or certified copies 
thereof, and also show by affidavits or otherwise that they have not been 
indemnified by their grantors or assignors for the failure of title, and that 
title has not been perfected in them by their grantors through other sources. 

Where there has been a conveyance of the land and the original pur- 
chaser applies for repayment, he must show that he has indemnified hi& 
assignee or perfected the title in him through another source, or produce a 
full reconveyance to himself from the last grantee or assignee. 

EEPAYMENT OF DOUBLE-MINIMUM EXCESS. 

The last clause of section 2 of the act under consideration provides 
that "in all cases where parties have paid double-minimum price for land 
which has afterward been found not to be within the limits of a railroad 
land grant, the excess of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre shall in 
like manner be repaid to the purchaser thereof, or to the heirs or assigns.'' 
In such cases the duplicate receipt must be surrendered; or if lost or 
destroyed, an affidavit stating that fact must accompany the application. 

TRANSMITTAL OF APPLICATIONS. 

All applications for repayment under the above provisions must be made 
in writing and be signed by the party applying, and must describe the tract 
or otherwise designate the entry with certainty. They should be trans- 
mitted, with all the papers in the case, through the register and receiver of 
the proper district land office, who will make due report thereon. 



APPEALS. 



Any person making application to file upon or enter a tract of public 
land, having complied with the law and regulations touching the presen- 
tation of such applications, and feeling aggrieved by the refusal of the 
register and receiver to recognize his claim, or by any order, direction, or 
condition affecting the same, may appeal from the action of those officers 
to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, who is by law invested 
with the supervision and control of all matters relating to the disposal of 
the public lands, subject to the direction of the Secretary of the Interior. 
(Sections 453 and 2478, Rev. Stat.) 

MANNER OF MAKING AN APPEAL. 

For the purpose of enabling such appeal to be taken and perfected, the 
register and receiver will indorse upon the written application the date 
when presented and their reasons for refusing it, promptly advising the 
party in interest of the facts, and noting upon their records a memorandum 
of the transaction. The party aggrieved will be allowed thirty days from 
the receipt of notice of such action within which to file his appeal to the 
Commissioner. When such notice is sent through the mails, five days 
will be allowed for the transmission of the notice, and other five days for 



41 

the transmission of the appeal, making forty days in all from the issue of 
notice in which to place the appeal on file in the district land office. The 
appeal must be in writing, definitely setting forth in clear and concise terms 
the specific points of exception to the decision appealed from, and the reason 
or reasons upon which such exceptions are based. The register and receiver 
will at once transmit the appeal to the General Land Office. No appeal 
from the decision of the local laud office will be received at the General 
Land Office unless forwarded through the local officers in the manner 
herein prescribed. 

REPORT. OF REGISTER AND RECEIVER. 

The appeal should be accompanied by a report upon the case by the 
register and receiver. This report should recite the proceedings had, to 
wit : The application and rejection, with the reasons therefor, the status of 
the tract involved, as shown by the records of the office, together with a 
reference to all entries, filings, annotations, memoranda, and correspondence 
shown by such record relating thereto, so as to direct the attention of the 
Commissioner to all the material facts and issues necessary to a proper 
determination of the questions presented. 

The report should be forwarded at once upon the filing of the appeal, 
except in contested cases after regular hearing, when, unless all parties 
request its earlier transmission, it should not be made until the expiration 
of the thirty days included in the notice, in order that all parties may have 
full opportunity to examine the record and prepare their argument upon 
the questions at issue. 

All documents once received must be kept on file with the cases, and no 
papers will be allowed under any circumstances to be removed from such 
files or taken from the custody of the register and receiver ; but access to 
the same under proper rules, so as not to interfere with necessary public 
business, should be permitted to the parties in interest, under the super- 
vision of those officers. 

ACTION OF GENERAL LAND OFFICE. 

Of the sufficiency of such appeal the General Land Office will be the 
judge, and will dismiss from further notice any case wherein the appeal is 
based upon frivolous grounds, or where the proper formalities are wanting, 
unless, either in the record of the case or upon the books of this office, 
some sufficient cause shall be found for further consideration under the 
general power of supervision vested in the Commissioner by law. 

APPEAL FROM THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE. 

Upon any question relating to the disposal of the public lands, appeal 
from the decision of the Commissioner of the General Land Office will lie 
to the Secretary of the Interior (Rev. Stat., sections 441, 2273; Appendix 
No. 1), except in cases of interlocutory orders and decisions and orders 
for hearing, or other matters resting in the sound discretion of the Com- 
missioner. These cases constitute matters of exception, which should be 
noted, and they will be considered by the Secretary on review. 

The appeal is required to be made in writing, fairly and specifically 
stating the points of exception to the decision appealed from, and must be 



42 

filed either with the register and receiver for transmission, or with the 
Commissioner, within sixty days from receipt, by the party or his attorney, 
of the notice of the decision. When notice is given through the mail by 
the register and receiver, five days are allowed for the transmission of the 
letter from the local land office, and five days for the return of the appeal 
through the same channel, making a total of seventy days from date of 
mailing. 

After appeal is filed, the fact of its receipt and pendency will be prompt- 
ly communicated to the district office and to the parties, and thirty days 
from service of such notice will be allowed for the filing of argument on 
the points involved in the controversy. At the expiration of the time 
prescribed the papers and record will be forwarded to the Secretary of the 
Interior. All arguments shall be filed with the Commissioner within the 
time specified in the notice in order that they may be referred to and con- 
sidered in transmitting the case to the Secretary, if deemed expedient by 
the Commissioner. Examination of cases on appeal to the Secretary will 
be facilitated by filing in printed form such argument as it is desired to 
have considered. 

Decisions of the Commissioner not appealed from within the period pre- 
scribed become final, and the case will be regularly closed. (Rev. Stat., 
section 2273.) 

The decision of the Secretary is necessarily final, so far as respects the 
action of the Executive. 

The minor details of the manner of proceeding in cases of contest before 
the Commissioner of the General Land Office and the Secretary of the 
Interior, for the information and guidance more especially of land officers 
and attorneys, may be found set forth in a separate pamphlet of '^ Rules of 
Practice." 

THE BOARD OF EQUITABLE ADJUDICATION. 

The board of equitable adjudication is established and its powers defined 
by sections 2450 to 2457 of the Revised Statutes (Appendix No. 1), 
amended by act of February 27, 1877. It consists of the Secretary of the 
Interior, the Attorney General, and the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office, and is authorized "to decide upon principles of equity and justice 

* * * all cases of suspended entries of public lands * * * 
and to adjudge in what cases patents shall issue upon the same." The 
board has no power to adjudicate adverse claims between contesting parties, 
but only between the United States and claimants, in cases where the law 
has been substantially complied with, but where error or informality has 
arisen from ignorance, accident, or mistake which is satisfactorily explained. 

This board is a tribunal of special and limited jurisdiction, outside of 
which it has no authority, but inside of which it is exclusive. No appeal lies 
from its decisions, nor are they subject to review by any other tribunal. 

(For the Rules and Regulations of the Board of Equitable Adjudication, 
see Appendix No. 22.) 



43 
DUTIES OF REGISTERS AND RECEIVERS. 

The duties of registers and receivers in many cases connected with the 
administration of the laws regarding public lands have already been inci- 
dently set forth. 

In addition thereto they will observe the following : 

REGULAR ATTENDANCE AT OFFICE. 

They will be in attendance regularly at their office, keeping the same 
open for the transaction of business from 9 o'clock a. m. till 4 o'clock 
p. m., and giving all proper information and facilities to persons applying 
therefor. 

COMMISSIONS, FEES, AND SALARY. 

They are prohibited from making any charge for their services other 
than such as are provided for by law. (Sections 2238, 2239, and 2246, 
Rev. Stat.; 21 Stat., 141 ; Appendix No. 18 ; and act of March 3, 1883; 
Appendix No. 22.) 

But the fees allowed them for testimony reduced to writing by them for 
claimants (paragraphs 10 and 11 of Sec. 2238, Rev. Stat.), and for furnish- 
ing plats or diagrams of townships, showing what lands therein are vacant 
and what are taken, and for furnishing lists of lands sold and remaining 
unsold, shall not be taken into account in estimating the maximum of com- 
pensation. (Act of March 3, 1883; Appendix No. 22.) 

MONTHLY REPORTS. 

Within three days from the close of each month they must make out 
and transmit to the General Land Office a statement of the business of 
their respective offices for the preceding month. 

These reports are in the form of abstracts of pre-emption declarations 
and of soldiers' declarations filed, abstracts of lands sold, abstracts of home- 
steads entered, abstracts of timber - culture entries allowed, abstracts of 
military bounty land warrants and of agricultural college scrip located, 
accompanied by the certificates of purchase, receivers' receipts, homestead 
and timber-culture applications and affidavits, military bounty land war- 
rants and agricultural college scrip surrendered as satisfied, and the cer- 
tificates of location thereof; also of all other forms of entry or location 
requiring separate returns. Names of parties must be clearly and legibly 
written in these papers to correspond with the signature to every applica- 
tion ; and when spelled in two or more ways, or illegibly written by the 
person signing, the register must ascertain by proper inquiry the correct 
orthography, and certify to the same upon the margin of the certificate. 

The abstracts, after being carefully examined by the register and receiver, 
are to be certified by them as correct and as in conformity with the papers 
in the entries or locations embraced therein and with their records, which 
papers, abstracts, and records must agree with each other. 

MONTHLY AND QUARTERLY STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS. 

The receiver is required to render promptly, to the Commissioner of the 
General Land Office and to the Secretary of the Treasury, a monthly 



44 

account of all moneys received, showing the balance due the Government 
at the close of each month ; and at the end of every quarter he must also 
transmit a quarterly account. (Sec. 2245, Rev. Stat.; Appendix No. 1 .) 

He is required to deposit the moneys received by him at some depository 
designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, when the amount on hand 
shall have reached the sum of one thousand dollars; and in no case is he 
authorized, without special instructions, to hold a larger amount in his 
hands. 



Laws and instructions relating to Mining Claims, Bounty Lands, Rail- 
road Adjustments, Town-sites, Timber Depredations, and other special 
matters, form the subject of separate circulars. 

N. C. McFARLAlSFD, 
Commissioner of the General Land Office, 
Approved : 

H. M. TELLER, 

Secretary of the Interior, 



[No. 1.] 
REVISED STATUTES OF THE UNITED STATES. 

COMMISSIONER OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE. 

Sec. 453. The Commissioner of the General Land- „ Duties of commissioner. 

y-\r-n in n i it • n t cy 25 April, 1812, c. 68, s. 1, v, 

<Jmce shall periorm, under the direction oi the Secretary ^j'J^^me c 352 & i v 
of the Interior, all executive duties appertaining to the ^' ^- ^°"- 
surveying and sale of the public lands of the United States, or in anywise 
respecting such public lands, and, also, such as relate to private claims of 
land, and the issuing of patents for all agents [grants] of land under the 
authority of the Government. 

* * * * * * 

REGISTERS AND RECEIVERS. 

Section 2234. There shall be appointed by the Presi- Appointment of registers 

XX >/ and receivers. 

dent, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, lanlfdis'tricts?'" «'^^'^"^*'^"s 
a register of the land-office and a receiver of public moneys, for each land- 
district established by law. 

Sec. 2235. Every register and receiver shall reside at Residence of register and 

nr> n . . receiver. 

the place where the land-office for which he is appointed lan^disuict^'s':*" establishing 
i& directed by law to be kept. 

Sec. 2236. Every register and receiver shall, before Bond of register and re- 
entering on the duties of his office, give bond in the penal "^^lo^May, 1800, c. 55, ss. 1, e, 
sum of ten thousand dollars, with approved security for 1953; c. iks, 1 5, v. 10, p.''245: 
the faithful discharge of his trust. 

Sec. 2237. Every register and receiver shall be allowed cewer.""' °'' '''"'^'" '"'^ '" 
an annual salary of five hundred dollars. i2^p.'^409:^loVprif'i8i8 c" 

123, V. 3, p. 466. 

Sec. 2238. Registers and receivers, in addition to their Fees and commissions of 
salaries, shall be allowed each the followinai: fees and com- ""^'se^ptrislt c.Te, s. 12, v. 

. . ^ , c5 5 p 4,56. 21 Mar., 1864, c. 

missions, namely : ss, s. 4, v. 13, p. 35. 

First. A fee of one dollar for each declaratory statement Jfiled, and for 
services in acting on pre-emption claims. 

Second. A commission of one per centum on all moneys p. Tee!^^"'' ^^^^' "' ^^^' ^' ^' 
received at each receiver's office. 

Third. A commission to be paid by the homestead ^.^VS' 20May, ilbl; c: 
applicant, at the time of entry, of one per centum on the ImlclluX^^f/il^'^.i^o: 
cash price, as fixed by law, of the land applied for ; and a like commission 
when the claim is finally established, and the certificate therefor issued as 
the basis of a patent. 

Fourth. The same commission on lands entered under v.^ir^p'eV^'^^' ''■ ^^^'^•^' 
any law to encourage the growth of timber on western prairies, as allowed 
when the like quantity of land is entered with money.* 

Fifth. For locating military bounty - land warrants 22 March, 18.52, c. 19, s, 2, 
issued since the eleventh day of February, eighteen 130, s. f, v." 12, p,"505. 

* This clause was superseded by act of March 13, 1874, (18 Stats., 21,) which was in turu 
superseded by act of June 14, 1878, ("20 Stats., 113; Appendix No. 15,) as interpreted by the 
decision of the First Comptroller, (Copp's Land Owner, vol. ix, p. 240.) See also act of 
March 3, 1883, (Appendix No. 21.) 

45 



46 

hundred and forty-seven, and for locating agricultural college land-scrip, 
the same commission to be paid by the holder or assignee of each warrant 
or scrip, as is allowed for sales of the public lands for cash, at the rate of 
one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. 

i2?p. m' ^^^^' *"• ®^' '■ ^' ^' Sixth. A fee, in donation cases, of five dollars for each 
final certificate for one hundred and sixty acres of land ; ten dollars for 
three hundred and twenty acres; and fifteen dollars for six hundred and 
forty acres. 

lajim^^^''^^^^'''^'^' Seventh. In the location of lands by States and cor- 
porations under grants from Congress for railroads and other purposes, 
(except for agricultural colleges,) a fee of one dollar for each final location 
of one hundred and sixty acres; to be paid by the State or corporation 
making such location. 

3, p^ 5w"' ^^^°' "■ ^^' ^" ^' ^' Eighth. A fee of five dollars per diem for superintend- 
ing public -land sales at their respective offices; [and to each receiver, 
mileage in going to and returning from depositing the public moneys 
received by him.] * 

y \*7^p''V^^^' *"■ ^^^''' ^^' Ninth. A fee of five dollars for filing and acting upon 
each application for patent or adverse claim filed for mineral lands, to be 
paid by the respective parties. 

v^isTs^^' ^^*^*' ''■^^''■^' Tenth. Registers and receivers are allowed, jointly, at 
the rate of fifteen cents per hundred words for testimony reduced by them 
to writing for claimants, in establishing pre-emption and homestead rights. 
^ 10^ May,^ 1872, c 152,8. 12, Elevcuth. A Hkc fcc as provided in the preceding 
subdivision when such writing is done in the land-office, in establishing 
claims for mineral lands. 

21 March 1864 c 38 b 6 Twclfth. Rcgistcrs aud receivers in California, Oregon, 
I;tii'h^gn/|ni'^^^^^^^ Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, 
Fani' '^y°'"'°^' ^"^ ^°''' Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana, are each entitled 
to collect and receive fifty per centum on the fees and commissions provided 
for in the first, third, and tenth subdivisions of this section. 

Fees of register and re- Sec. 2239. Thc rcglstcr for auy consolidated land-dis- 

ceiver for consolidated land i«i' Ti'^' j_j1 _P 11 ii i ini 

ofBces. trict, m addition to the tees now allowea by law, snail be 

18 Feb., 1861, c. 38, sa. 1, 3, , . , i i , i i • p 1 • , • , f 

V. 12, p. 131. entitled to charge and receive tor making transcripts tor 

individuals, or furnishing any other record information respecting public 
lands or land-titles in his consolidated land-district, such fees as are prop- 
erly authorized by the tariff existing in the local courts of his district; and 
the receiver shall receive his equal share of such fees, and it shall be his 
duty to aid the register in the preparation of the transcripts, or giving the 
desired record information. 

for'^rSTtL™ andTce^v^rs"" Sec. 2240. Thc compcnsatiou of registers and receivers, 
v.^V^p.'36: ^2oVprif'i8i8; iucludiug Salary, fees, and commissions, shall in no case 
1862, 'c\'8\ V.12, p. 393: exceed in the ao^ffre^ate three thousand dollars a year each ; 

30 May, 1862, c. 86, s. 6, v. 12, , . , *^ ® . in ' n 

p.409 iJuiy,i864,c.i96,8. aud uo rcs^ister or receiver shall receive lor any one 

1, V. 13, p. 33o. 22 March, o ^ J 

jTiy,''i86Vc.^i3'o,^''.'7,v.i2! ^uartcr or fractional quarter more than a pro-rata allow- 
?i,'p'-37l.hVSiyt'o: ance of such maximum.f 



38, ss. 1, .3, V. 12, p. 131.— U. 
S. vs. Babbit, 1 Bl., 55. 



* Part in brackets repealed. Actual expenses only allowed. Act June 16; 1874, Stats., 
vol. 18, p. 72. 

t See note at foot of the preceding page. 



47 

Sec. 2241. Whenever the amount of compensation Excess of compensation to 

• T , T T /v» 111 • n T be paid into Treasury. 

received at any land-onice exceeds the maximum allowed 3 March, 1853, c 97, s. 1, v. 

11, "^ . , . ,1 1 n 1 . T 10, p. 204. 18 Feb., 1861, c. 

by law to any register or receiver, the excess shall be paid ^s, ss. i, 3, v. 12, p. 131. 
into the Treasury, as other public moneys. 

Sec. 2242. No register or receiver shall receive any ^lil!cK\St^i9,^.3r 
compensation out of the Treasury for past services who M,\°.'6%*io!i.Ma' ^®^'''" 
has charged or received illegal fees ; and, on satisfactory proof that either 
of such officers has charged or received fees or other rewards not author- 
ized by law, he shall be forthwith removed from office. 

Sec. 2243. The compensation of registers and receiv- compensation of register* 
ers, both for salary and commissions, shall commence m 'ncl."""'' "''" ^ '°™- 
and be calculated from the time they, respectively, enter 10, p. 6^15.' ^■'^•^24, s.3,v 
on the discharge of their duties. 

Sec. 2244. All registers and receivers shall be ap- te?^"nd'r«e° verf' °' '"'''* 
pointed for the term of four years, but shall be remov- 3, i' S' '''°' "'"''"'• " 
able at pleasure. 

Sec. 2245. The receivers shall make to the Secretary tufn^oV^r^ecewe's?"'""''' '^ 
of the Treasury monthly returns of the moneys received 5,t m^' ^s^e, c 352, s. 9, v. 
in their several offices, and pay over such money pursuant to his instruc- 
tions. And they shall also make to the Commissioner of the General 
Land-Office like monthly returns, and transmit to him quarterly accounts- 
current of the debits and credits of their several offices with the United 
States. 

Sec. 2246. The register or receiver is authorized, and . p^^^ administered, by reg- 

c5 ^ ■ ^ / isters and receivers. 

it shall be their duty, to, administer any oath required by ^^^ ■^"°''' ^^^°' ""■ ^^' ^- ^' ^ 
law or the instructions of the General Land-Office, in connection with the 
entry or purchase of any tract of the public lands ; but he shall not charge 
or receive, directly or indirectly, any compensation for administering such 
oath. 

Sec. 2247. If any person applies to any register to tio^n'by'reeifter.^'^'" '°''°™" 
enter any land whatever, and the register knowingly and ^ */{\'y; 1*^6,0.352,8. 13, y. 
falsely informs the person so applying that the same has already been 
entered, and refuses to permit the person so applying to enter the same, 
such register shall be liable therefor to the person so applying, for $5 for 
each acre of land which the person so applying offered to enter, to be 
recovered by action of debt in any court of record having jurisdiction of the 
amount. 



pee-emptions. 

Sec. 2257. All lands belonging to the United States, ^ol''^' ''''''''' *° ''^^""^ 
to which the Indian title has been or may hereafter be u^p.^: ^^^' "' ^*' '' ^' ^' 
extinguished, shall be subject to the right of pre-emption, under the condi- 
tions, restrictions, and stipulations provided by law. 

Sec. 2258. The following classes of lands, unless other- .^^p^t^^^^ °°* ^"^^^""^ ^° ^'^ 
wise specially provided for by law, shall not be subject to r,^\^lll-: ^^"' "■ ^^' '• ^°' ''• 
the' rights of pre-emption, to-wit : 

First. Lands included in any reservation by any treaty, law, or procla- 
mation of the President, for any purpose. 



48 

peT'^?- jo;ep^hT'^s°u. s.! Secoiid. Laods included within the limits of any in- 
AmeHci^Bapust^unk.'nri corporatcd towu, or selected as the site of a city or 

McLean, 344; U. S. vs. Riiil- -f^^,-.-, 
road Bridge Co., 6 McLean, LUVVll. 

Hlmps'froT" "'' ^^^^^' Third. Lands actually settled and occupied for pur- 
poses of trade and business^ and not for agriculture. 

Fourth. Lands on which are situated any known salines or mines. 
Persons entitled to pre- Sec. 2259. Evcry pcrsou, bciug the head of a family, 
*Tse°p"t"., 1841, c. 16, s. 10, v. Qr wldow, or single person, over the age of twenty-one 
T,^- £ ^/-Fitzgerald, 15 years, aud a citizen of the tJnited States, or having filed 

Pet., 407 ; LytletJS. Arkansas, •''... ' & 

AAieyVifHo^vv.^'sFI'JXrni ^ declaratiou of intention to become such, as required by 
is'^ How.? Tif Gafkn^^'i'I' thc uaturalizatiou laws, who has made, or hereafter makes, 
^ u'"de?hnuBi,32^7wth' a settlement in person on the public lands subject to pre- 

€rspoon vs. Duncan, 4 Wall., ,• ll'11'j_ 1* j1 1 

218. emption, and wno inhabits and improves the same, and 

who has erected or shall erect a dwelling thereon, is authorized to enter 
with the register of the land-office for the district in which such land lies, 
by legal subdivisions, any number of acres not exceeding 160, or a quarter 
section of land, to include the residence of such claimant, upon paying to 
the United States the minimum price of such land. 

pr^-emp^ion""^ ^"^'''■^'' *" ^^^- 2260. The followiug classes of persons, unless 
5,1^455." ^^"'^" ^^''•^°''- otherwise specially provided for by law, shall not acquire 
any right of pre-emption under the provisions of the preceding sections, 
to-wit : 

First. No person who is the proprietor of 320 acres of land in any State 
or Territory. 

Second. No person who quits or abandons his residence on his own land 
to reside on the public land in the same State or Territory. 

Limitation of pre-emption Sec. 2261. Nopcrsou shall bc cutitled to more than 
" 4 Sept., 1841, c. 16, .«. 10, V. ouc prc-emptive right by virtue of the provisions of sec- 

S p. 455. 3 March 1843 c. ■'■■'■ ~ '^ ^ 

«6, 8. 4, V. 5, p. 620. ' ' tion 2259; nor where a party has filed his declaration of 
intention to claim the benefits of such provisions, for one tract of land^ 
shall he file, at any future time, a second declaration for another tract. 
whlfe^ied'^penattr^^'""'"' ^^G. 2262. Beforc any person claiming the benefit of 
5,1^456." ^^"'*'"^^'''^^'''" this chapter is allowed to enter lands, he shall make oath 
before the receiver or register* of the land-district in which the land is 
situated that he has never had the benefit of any right of pre-emption under 
section 2259 ; that he is not the owner of 320 acres of land in any State or 
Territory ; that he has not settled upon and improved such land to sell the 
same on speculation, but in good faith to appropriate it to his own exclusive 
use; and that he has not, directly or indirectly, made any agreement or con- 
tract, in any way or manner, with any person whatever, by which the title 
which he might acquire from the Government of the United States should 
inure in whole or in part to the benefit of any person except himself; and 
if any person taking such oath swears falsely in the premises, he shall for- 
feit the money which he may have paid for such land, and all right and 
title to the same; and any grant or conveyance which he may have made, 
except in the hands of bona fide purchasers, for a valuable consideration, 
shall be null and void, except as provided in section 2288. And it shall 
be the duty of the officer administrating such oath to file a certificate there- 
of in the public land-office of such district, and to transmit a duplicate 

* Amended by act of June 9, 1880, (21 Stats., 169; Appendix No. 4.) 



49 

copy to the General Land-Office, either of which shall be good and sufficient 
evidence that such oath was administered according to law. 

Sec. 2263. Prior to any entries being made under and signment^'or^prTemitiot 
by virtue of the provisions of section 2259, proof of the "f sV, i84i, c. le, s. 12, v. 
settlement and improvement thereby required shall be ^'Lyue.s. Arkansas, 9 how., 
made to the satisfaction of the register and receiver of MHow""3r7fBarnrrd^^ 
the land-district in which such lands lie, agreeably to such «; gIZL rrWynnr^d 

T 7 MIIjIOi . n ^ h- • How., 6 ; Lytle ?;s. Arkansai:!, 

rules as may be prescribed by the secretary of the Interior ; ?? "Tv, \^l' f.l'^'^^-^^'"- 

*',■'■ Trt Underhill, 1 Bl.,325; Lindsey 

and all assignments and transfers of the right hereby ^': crofri3%vaii^,^29'i.^^^" 
secured, prior to the issuing of the patent, shall be null and void. 

Sec. 2264. When any person settles or improves a tract senLT^Ill ?nte>>t io 'i,ut 
of land subject at the time of settlement to private entry, ^^^16 entry."''' '"'''''' '" 
and intends to purchase the same under the preceding pro- 5,1^457.' ^^'' ""■ ^^' '" ^'^' '' 
visions of this chapter, he shall, within thirty days after the date of such 
settlement, file with the register of the proper district a written statement, 
describing the land settled upon, and declaring his intention to claim the 
same under the pre-emption laws ; and he shall, moreover, within twelve 
months after the date of such settlement, make the proof, affidavit, and 
payment hereinbefore required. If he fails to file such written statement, 
or to make such affidavit, proof, and payment within the several periods 
named above, the tract of land so settled and improved shall be subject to 
, the entry of any other purchaser. 

Sec. 2265. Every claimant under the pre-emption law ciaim Ried by senier on 

„,-, i1'ir» l'»-i -I ^^""^ "°^ proclaimed for sale. 

for land not yet proclaimed lor sale is requu'ed to make ^ 3 March, isia, c. se, s. s, v. 
known his claim in writing to the register of the proper wa'iL,"72" '''' ^^'^''^^■' ^^ 
land-office within three months from the time of the settlement, giving the 
designation of the tract and the time of settlement; otherwise his claim 
shall be forfeited and the tract awarded to the next settler, in the order of 
time, on the same tract of land, who has given such notice and otherwise 
complied with the conditions of the law. 

Sec. 2266. In regard to settlements which are author- declaratory statement of 

-, 1 1 1 j_1 1 • 1 • settlers on unsurveyed land 

ized upon unsurveyed lands, the pre-emption claimant ""^^"j^j,^/- 1862 c se s 7 v 
shall be in all cases required to file his declaratory state- ^^' ^- ^^"• 
ment within three months from the date of the receipt at the district land- 
office of the approved plat of the township embracing such pre-emption 
settlement. 

Sec. 2267. All claimants of pre-emption rights, under timro™ma°kmg t^t'Zi 
the two preceding sections, shall, when no shorter time is T^TJiy, 1870, c. 272, .s. 2, v. 
prescribed by law, make the proper proof and payment r4s.Vv^'i6,^p.^i!^' ^^^'' 
for the land claimed within thirty months after the date prescribed therein, 
respectively, for filing their declaratory notices, has expired. 

Sec. 2268. Where a pre-emptor has taken the initia- Extension of time in cer- 

, -«- , -L ^ tain cases to persons in iniU- 

tory steps required by law in regard to actual settlement, ^"arMfrerlew'^c'^s? -- 5 
and is called away from such settlement by being engaged ^- ^^' p- ^^• 
in the military or naval service of the United States, and by reason of such 
absence is unable to appear at the district land-office to make before the 
register or receiver the affidavit, proof, and payment, respectively, required 
by the preceding provisions of this chapter, the time for filing such affidavit 
and making final proof and entry or location shall be extended six months 
after the expiration of his term of service, upon satisfactory proof by affi- 
davit, or the testimony of witnesses, that such pre-emptor is so in the service, 
8198— 't 



50 

being filed with the register of the land-office for the district in which his 
settlement is made. 
Death before consummat- Sbg. 2269. Whcrc 2i Darty cntitlcd to claim the benefi.ts 

iug claim; who to complete, ^ ■, • l T l /> • l • 

"^'s March 1813 c. 36 b. 2 v. ^^ ^06 prc-cmption laws dies beiore consummatmg his 
^'P-^^°- claim, by filing in due time all the papers essential to the 

establishment of the same, it shall be competent for the executor or admin- 
istrator of the estate of such party, or one of his heirs, to file the necessary 
papers to complete the same; but the entry in such cases shall be made in 
i'avor of the heirs of the deceased pre-emptor, and a patent thereon, shall 
cause the title to inure to such heirs, as if their names had been specially 
mentioned. 

caure"d"b7va"anc7''n^ office Sec. 2270. Whcnevcr thc vacaucy of the office either 
affectr"'^ "'"'" "°''° of register or receiver, or of both, renders it impossible for 

3 March, 1843, c. 86, 8. 6, V. ,1 i • > , i •,1 * •-• n jT_ 

5, p. 620. the claimant to comply with any requisition oi the pre- 

emption laws within the appointed time, such vacancy shall not operate to 
the detriment of the party claiming, in respect to any matter essential to 
the establishment of his claim ; but such requisition must be complied with 
within the same period after the disability is removed as would have been 
allowed had such disability not existed. 
No pre-emption of lands Sec. 2271. Thc provlslous of thls chaptcr shall be so 

sold but not confirmed by _ -•- •ir> 

^26'^Au^''^842 c 205 r 5 coustrucd as iiot to conicr on any one a right oi pre- 
p-^2*- ' ' ' emption, by reason of a settlement made on a tract 

theretofore disposed of, when such disposal has not been confirmed by the 
General Land-Office, on account of any alleged defect therein. 
Purchase by private entry Sec. 2272. Nothinp^ lu thc provlslous of thls chaptcr 

after expiration of pre-emp- ini 111 1 i 

^'Tuirch 1843 c 86 8 9 V suall DC construcd to preclude any person, who may have 
^' p- ^21- ' ' ' ' ^jg J ^ notice of intention to claim any tract of land by 
pre-emption, from the right allowed by law to others to purchase such 
tract by private entry after the expiration of the right of pre-emption. 
When more than one set- Sec. 2273. Whcu two or morc pcrsous settle on the 
crri^m^loner"'' '"''''' "^ samc tract of land, the right of pre-emption shall be in 
V. Vp^ «6.^*V2 June, \sbs, liiiH wlio madc the first settlement, provided such person 
^Barnard J^. Ashley," 18 couforms to thc othcr provlslou of the law; and all 

How.,43; Gorland IS. VVynn, , i • i r» • • • l 

Haw"e"'^Bi*^i'>4^MtnTe8ot*a ^ucstions as to thc right 01 prc-cmptiou arising between 
johnson'^l^i'' Tlwsiey,^°ii different settlers shall be determined by the register and 
^'''"•'^^- receiver of the district within which the land is situated; 

and appeals from the decision of district officers, in cases of contest for the 
right of pre-emption, shall be made to the Commissioner of the General 
Land-Office, whose decision shall be final, unless appeal therefrom be taken 
to the Secretary of the Interior. 
Settlements of two or Sec. 2274. Whcu settlcmeuts have been made upon 

more persons on same sub- , il"! i f ^ TT'lC~( • 

"^'s' MTrc^h.'^i87ra^283, 8. 1 ^gricultural public lands oi the United States prior to 
^^'•p-^°^- the survey thereof, and it has been or shall be ascer- 

tained, after the public surveys have been extended over such lands, that 
two or more settlers have improvements upon the same legal subdivision, 
it shall be lawful for such settlers to make joint entry of their lands at the 
local laud-office, or for either of said settlers to enter into contract with 
his co-settlers to convey to them their portion of said land after a patent 
is issued to him, and, after making such contract, to file a declaratory 
statement in his own name, and prove up and pay for said land, and proof 
of joint occupation by himself and others, and of such contract with them 



51 

made, shall be equivalent to proof of sole occupation and pre-emption by 
the applicant : Provided, That in no case shall the amount patented under 
this section exceed one hundred and sixty acres, Hor shall this section 
apply to lands not subject to homestead or pre-emption entry. 

Sec. 2275. Where settlements, with a view to pre- settlements before survey 

,^ . 1ir»i r»ilT°" sections 16 or 36, deficien- 

emption, have been made before the survey or the lands ^'le Feb^°i859 c ss v u 
in the field, which are found to have been made on sec- ^- ^^■ 
tions sixteen or thirty-six, those sections shall be subject to the pre-emp- 
tion claim of such settler; and if they, or either of them, have been or 
shall be reserved or pledged for the use of schools or colleges in the 
State or Territory in which the lands lie, other lands of like quantity are 
appropriated in lieu of such as may be patented by pre-emptors; and 
other lands are also appropriated to compensate deficiencies for school 
purposes, where sections sixteen or thirty-six are fractional in quantity, 
or where one or both are wanting by reason of the township being frac- 
tional, or from any natural cause whatever. 

Sec. 2276. The lands appropriated bv the preceding selections to supply -lee- 

i JL X •/ X O ci6'nci63 of School lands. 

section shall be selected, within the same land-district, in ^tl'^^-^^^^' ^;i^' '• il' 
accordance with the followmg prmciples of adjustment, s. i, v. 4, p. 179. 
to-wit: For each township or fractional township containing a greater 
quantity of land than three-quarters of an entire township, one section; 
for a fractional township containing a greater quantity of land than one- 
half, and not more than three-quarters, of a township, three-quarters of a 
section; for a fractional township containing a greater quantity of land tha.n 
one-quarter, and not more than one-half, of a township, one-half section; 
and for a fractional township containing a greater quantity of land than 
one entire section, and not more than one-quarter, of a township, one quarter 
section of land. 

Sec. 2277. All warrants for military bounty-lands, Military bountyiand war- 

-.- . -, , , PI XT ♦in rants receivable for pre-emp- 

which are issued under any law 01 the United otates, ^ToP^^'"?"'?-^.., ,„ , 

.' , , '22 March, 1852, c 19, s, 1, 

shall be received in payment of pre-emption rights at the "'■ '"- p- ^• 
rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, for the quantity of land 
therein specified ; but where the land is rated at one dollar and twenty-five 
cents per acre, and does not exceed the area specified in the warrant, it 
must be tal^en in full satisfaction thereof. . 

Sec. 2278. Ascricultural-collesce scrip, issued to any Agricultural -couege scnp 

_, ^.<-' ^^Y l«l 1 receivable in payment of pre- 

btate under the act approved July second, eighteen hun- ^"jp^^yy"- ig^^ c. i96 r is, 
dred and sixty-two, or acts amendatory thereof, shall be ^- i^e. ' ' 
received from actual settlers in payment of pre-emption claims in the same 
manner and to the same extent as authorized in case of military bounty- 
land warrants, by the preceding section. 

Sec. 2279. No person shall have the right of pre- ranr^dlmlr '"'"'* *'°°* 
emption to more than one hundred and sixty acres along p. ^244!""''^' ^^' *^ ^^ ^' ^°' 
the line of railroads within the limits granted by any act of Congress. 

Sec. 2280. Any settler on lands heretofore reserved Pre-emption rights on knda 

•', __, 1 c^ ' 1 1 received for grants found in- 

on account of claims under I rench, Spanish, or other ""%%^^^^ ^gss c. m y. 10, 
grants, which have been or may be hereafter declared by p- '^^• 
the Supreme Court of the United States to be invalid, shall be entitled to 
all the rights of pre-emption granted by the preceding provisions of this 
chapter, after the lands have been released from reservation, in the same 
manner as if no reservation had existed. 



52 

Pre-emption rights on lands Sec. 2281. All settleps Oil DubKc laiids whlcli have 

reserved for railroads. . 1 • 1 T n 1 • 

leg^'^'u ju^?'i87oV'272' "^^^^ ^^ ^^y ^^ withdrawn irom market m consequence 
8. 2, V. 16, p. 279. Qf proposed railroads, and who had settled thereon prior 

to such withdrawal, shall be entitled to pre-emption at the ordinary 
minimum to the lands settled on and cultivated by them ; but they shall 
file the proper notices of their claims and make proof and payment as in 
other cases. 

defayed°&c ""^ """^ '° ''^ '^^" ^^^- ^282. NotMug contalucd in this chapter shall 
5,1%^7;' ^^^' ''■ ^^' ^' "' ^' delay the sale of any of the public lands beyond the time 
appointed by the proclamation of the President. 

Certain lands in Kansas, g^c. 2283. Thc Osas^c ludlau trust aud dlminishcd- 

how to be sold. O 

irf p^9o.' ^^^'^' ''■ "^' '■ ^' ''■ reserve lands in the State of Kansas, excepting the six- 
teenth and thirty-sixth sections in each township, shall be subject to 
disposal, for cash only, to actual settlers, in quantities not exceeding one 
hundred and sixty acres, or one quarter-section to each, in compact form, 
in accordance with the general principles of the pre-emption laws, under 
the direction of the Commissioner of the. General Land-Office; but claim- 
ants shall file their declaratory statements as prescribed in other cases 
upon unoffered lands, and shall pay for the tracts, respectively, settled 
upon within one year from date of settlement where the plat of survey 
is on file at that date, and within one year from the filing of the town- 
ship-plat in the district office where such plat is not on file at date of 
settlement. 
Transfer of above claims Sec. 2284. Tlic salc Or trausfcr of his claim upon any 

prior to, &.C., subsequent •/>iiii l • i 

"9'May^T872 c u9 s. 3 v. poi^tiou 01 thcsc lauds Dy any settler prior to the twenty- 
^^p-^' ' ' sixth day of April, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, 

shall not operate to preclude the right of entry, under the provisions of the 
preceding section, upon another tract settled upon subsequent to such sale 
or transfer; but satisfactory proof of good faith must be furnished upon 
such subsequent settlement. 
Pre-emption restrictions Sec. 2285. Thc rcstrictious of thc Dre-cmption laws, 

not to apply to certam lands .-.. . ITTl* i 

'"g^May 'i872 c. 149, s. 3 v. contaiucd lu scctious twenty-two hundred and sixty and 
^^' p- ^°' twenty-two hundred and sixty-one, shall not apply to any 

settler on the Osage Indian trust and diminished-reserve lands in fhe State 
of Kansas, who was actually residing on his claim on the ninth day of 
May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two. 
Pre-emption by counties g^c. 2286. Thcrc shall bc OTautcd to the several conn- 

for seats of justice. o 

d.p'lso!^'^^^*'''^'^^'''^''' ties or parishes of each State and Territory, where there 
are public lands, at the minimum price for which public lands of the United 
States are sold, the right of pre-emption to one quarter-section of land, in 
each of the counties or parishes, in trust for such counties or parishes, res- 
pectively, for the establishment of seats of justice therein; but the proceeds 
of the sale of each such quarter-section shall be appropriated for the pur- 
pose of erecting public buildings in the county or parish for which it is 
located, after deducting therefrom the amount originally paid for the same. 
And the seat of justice for such counties or parishes, respectively, shall be 
fixed previously to a sale of the adjoining lands within the county or parish 
for which the same is located. 
Where claimant of entry gjgQ 2287. Auv boua-fidc scttlcr uudcr thc homcstcad 

becomes reRister or receivi-r. J 

v.^irXm. ^^^^' *"■ '^^' '■ '*^' OJ" pre-emption laws of the United States who has filed 
the proper application to enter not to exceed one quarter-section of the 



53 

public lands in any district land-office, and who has been subsequently 
appointed a register or receiver, may perfect the title to the land under the 
pre-emption laws by furnishing the proofs and making the payments 
required by law, to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of the General 
Land-Office. 

Sec. 2288. Any person who has already settled or here- u„Some8L"ato°prl'S 
after may settle on the public lands, either bv pre-emption pio'eT ^°' '^''''" """"" 
or by virtue of the homestead law or any amendments v. ir?p°/6'of '''''"'''' 
thereto, shall have the right to transfer, by warranty against his own acts, 
any portion of his pre-emption or homestead for church, cemetery, or school 
purposes, and for the right of way of railroads across such pre-emption or 
homestead, and the transfer for such public purposes shall in no way vitiate 
the right to complete and perfect the title to their pre-emptions or home- 
steads. 

HOMESTEADS. 

Sec. 2289. Every person who is the head of a family, apiTXS^puCncland"""' 
or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is i2,^J.^9T ^^^^' "' ^^' "" ^' '' 
a citizen of the United States, or who has filed his declaration of intention 
to become such, as required by the naturalization laws, shall be entitled to 
enter one quarter-section or a less quantity of unappropriated public lands, 
upon which such person may have filed a pre-emption claim, or which may, 
at the time the application is made, be subject to pre-emption at one dollar 
and twenty-five cents per acre ; or eighty acres or less of such unappropri- 
ated lands at two dollars and fifty cents per acre, to be located in a body, 
in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, and after the 
same have been surveyed. And every person owning and residing on land 
may, under the provisions of this section, enter other land lying contiguous 
to his land, which shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied, 
exceed in the aggregate one hundred and sixty acres. 

Sec. 2290. The person applying for the benefit of the Moje of procedure. 
preceding section shall, upon application to the register of ^- ^p ^-f-^ ^ ^^Iga^^li 
the land-office in which he is about to make such entry, l]%i^' ^®^' <=• ^' '• 2- ^- 13, 
make affidavit before the register or receiver that he is the head of a family, 
or is twenty-one years or more of age, or has performed service in the Army 
or Navy, of the United States, and that such application is made for his 
exclusive use and benefit, and that his entry is made for the purpose of 
actual settlement and cultivation, and not either directly or indirectly for 
the use or benefit of any other person ; and upon filing such affidavit with 
the register or receiver, on payment of five dollars when the entry is of not 
more than eighty acres, and on payment of ten dollars when the entry is 
for more than eighty acres, he shall thereupon be permitted to enter the 
amount of land specified. 

Sec. 2291. No certificate, however, shall be given, or giv?;a'dTssue"d^. ''"'"''"'" 
patent issued therefor, until the expiration of five years v. u,"^p.T7. ^^^^' ""' ^^^' '" ^' 
from the date of such entry; and if at the expiration of such time, or at any 
time within two years thereafter, the person making such entry; or if he 
be dead, his widow; or in case of her death, his heirs or devisee; or in case 
of a widow making such entry, her heirs or devisee, in case of her death, 
proves by two credible witnesses that he, she, or they have resided upon or 
cultivated the same for the term of five years immediately succeeding the 



54 

time of filing the affidavit, and makes affidavit that no part of such land 
has been alienated, except as provided in section twenty-two hundred and 
eighty-eight, and that he, she, or they will bear true allegiance to the Gov- 
ernment of the United States ; then, in such case, he, she, or they, if at that 
time citizens of the United States, shall be entitled to a patent, as in other 
cases provided by law. 
When rights inure to the g^c. 2292. lu casc of thc death of both father and 

benefit of inlant children. 

v.^iVp "el?. ^^^' ''" ^^^' '" ^' i^other, leaving an infant child or children under twen- 
ty-one years of age, the right and fee shall inure to the benefit of such infant 
child or children ; and the executor, administrator, or guardian may, at any 
time within two years after the death of the surviving parent, and in accord- 
ance with the laws of the State in which such children, for the time being, 
have their domicile, sell the land for the benefit of such infants, but for no 
other purpose ; and the purchaser shall acquire the absolute title by the pur- 
chase, and be entitled to a patent from the United States on the payment 
of the office fees and sum of money above specified. 

Persons in military ornavai Sec. 2293. lu casc of auy pcrsou dcslrous of availlug 
whom^make"affidfvit'''°'^' hlmsclf of thc bcncfits of this chapter, but who, by rea- 
v.^13, p-^sal"' ^^' "'^ '^' ' son of actual service in the military or naval service of the 
United States, is unable to do the personal preliminary acts at the district 
land-office which the preceding sections require ; and whose family, or some 
member thereof, is residing on the land which he desires to enter, and upon 
which a bona-fide improvement and settlement have been made, such per- 
son may make the affidavit required by law before the officer commanding 
in the branch of the service in which the party is engaged, which affidavit 
shall be as binding in law, and with like penalties, as if taken before the 
register or receiver; and upon such affidavit being filed with the register 
by the wife or other representative of the party, the same shall become 
effective from the date of such filing, provided the application and affidavit 
are accompanied by the fee and commissions as required by law. 
affiTavHbefore°cferkofcoun Sec. 2294. lu auy casc lu which the applicant for the 
y.^isH^st ^^' ^' ^' '■ ^' benefit of the homestead, and whose family, or some mem- 
ber thereof, is residing on the land which he desires to enter, and upon 
which a bona-fide improvement and settlement have been made, is prevented^ 
by reason of distance, bodily infirmity, or other good cause, from personal 
attendance at the district land-office, it may be lawful for him to make the 
affidavit required by law before the clerk of the court for the county in 
which the applicant is an actual resident, and to transmit the same, with 
the fee and commissions, to the register and receiver. 

Record of applications. Sec. 2295. Thc rcglstcr of thc land-office shall note all 

^,^193]^^^'"'^'''^'^'''' applications under the provisions of this chapter on the 
tract-books and plats of his office, and keep a register of all such entries, 
and make return thereof to the General Land-Office, together with the 
proof upon which they have been founded. 

HomestoiuiiandH not to be Sbc. 2296. No lauds acouircd under the provisions of 

subject to piior debts. _ i r^ 

12?". m' ^^^'^' '■ ^''' '■ ^' '■ this chapter shall in any event become liable to the satis- 
faction of any debt contracted prior to the issuing of the patent therefor. 
When lands entered for Sec. 2297. If, at auv timc aftcr tlic filino; of thc affida- 

honieatead revert to Govern- , .,. -,, ^-i .. 

"aoVay, 1862, c 75, s. 5, v. ^^^) ^^ rcqulrcd in section 2290, and before the expn-ation 
^^'V-^^'^- of the five years mentioned in section 2291, it is proved, 

after due notice to the settler, to the satisfaction of the register of the land- 



55 

office, that the person having filed such affidavit has actually changed his; 
residence, or abandoned the land for more than six months at any time, 
then and in that event the land so entered shall revert to the Government: 
\_Provided, That where there may be climatic reasons the Commissioner of 
the General Land -Office may, in his discretion, allow the settler twelve 
months from the date of filing in which to commence his residence on said 
land under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe.]* 

Sec. 2298. No person shall be permitted to acquire title Limitation of amount en- 

, -*- • T 1 « « tered for homestead. 

to more than one quarter-section under the provisions of ^^\ ^^^^^ ^^^^' ^- ^^' ^- ^' "■ 
this chapter. 

Sec. 2299. Nothinp; contained in this chapter shall be Existing pre-emption rights 

_,•—', i not impaired. 

SO construed as to impair or interfere in any manner with ^^^l^^sm! ^^^' ""■ ^^' '' ^' ''' 
existing pre-emption rights; and all persons who may have filed their 
applications for a pre-emption right prior to the 20th day of May, 1862, 
shall be entitled to all the privileges of this chapter. 

Sec. 2300. No person who has served, or may hereafter ^vhat minors may have the 

p •11 1 n 1 -li privileges of this chapter. 

serve, lor a period not less than fourteen days in the Army i2;p.^39i;' ^^^' ^- ^^' '• ^' ^■ 
or Navy of the United States, either regular or volunteer, under the laws 
thereof, during the existence of an actual war, domestic or foreign, shall 
be deprived of the benefits of this chapter on account of not having attained 
the age of twenty-one years. 

Sec. 2301. Nothino; in this chapter shall be so construed Payments before expiration 

'=' 11 Mil* in n ,1 of five years, rights of appli- 

as to prevent any person who has availed himseli oi the <=^"t-„ ,„,,„ ,, , 
benefits oi section 2289, from paymg the minimum price ^^-p-^ss. 
for the quantity of land so entered, at any time before the expiration of the 
five years, and obtaining a patent therefor from the Government, as in other 
cases directed by law, on making proof of settlement and cultivation as pro- 
vided by law, granting pre-emption rights. f 

Sec. 2302. No distinction shall be made in the con- of^raceor'S?*" ^"°""' 
struction or execution of this chapter on account of race y'^ufv^^i}^^''^ 127, .s.], 
or color; nor shall any mineral lands be liable to entry and settlement 
under its provisions. 

Sec. 2303. All the public lands in the States of Ala- ///""Z^- ^^' '^^ ^27,8.1, 
bama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida shall iX^f 1876 c les v 19 
be disposed of in no other manner than according to the p- 73. ' 

terms and stipulations contained in the preceding provisions of this 
chapter.^ 

Sec. 2304. Every private soldier and officer who has J^f^^'^' ^""^ '^"°"' ^°"'^- 
served in the Army of the United States during the irf p^.^s"^'/®^^' ''• ^^^' '• ^' ''• 
recent rebellion, for ninety days, and who was honorably discharged, and 
has remained loyal to the Government, including the troops mustered into 
the service of the United States by virtue of the third section of an act 
approved February 13, 1862, and every seaman, marine, and officer who 
has served in the Navy of the United States, or in the Marine Corps, 
during the rebellion, for ninety days, and who was honorably discharged, 
and has remained loyal to the Government, shall, on compliance with the 
provisions of this chapter, as hereinafter modified, be entitled to enter 

* The portion within brackets is an amendment, added by act of March 3, 1881; ( 21 Stats., 
511; Appendix No. 11.) 

tSee act of June 9, 1880, (21 Stats., 169; Appendix No. 4.) 
X Repealed by act of June 22, 1876. 



56 

upon and receive patents for a quantity of public lands not exceeding 160 
acres, or one quarter-section, to be taken in compact form, according to legal 
subdivisions, including the alternate reserved sections of public land along 
the line of any railroad or other public work, not otherwise reserved or 
appropriated, and other lands subject to entry under the homestead laws of 
the United States ; but such homestead settler shall be allowed six months 
after locating his homestead, and filing his declaratory statement, within 
which to make his entry and commence his settlement and improvement. 
Deduction of military and Qec. 2305. Thc tlmc whlch thc homcstcad settler has 

naval service from time, &c. 

17^17^.^^^^'"'^'^'^'^' served in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps shall be 
deducted from the time heretofore required to perfect title, or if discharged 
on account of wounds received or disability incurred in the line of duty, 
then the term of enlistment shall be deducted from the time heretofore 
required to perfect title, without reference to the length of time he may 
have served ; but no patent shall issue to any homestead settler who has 
not resided upon, improved, and cultivated his homestead for a period of 
at least one year after he shall have commenced his improvements. 
les^s^harieo^acrerrightfof^ ^^^' ^306. Evcry pcrsou cutitlcd, under the provis- 
i-fp^ 333. ^^^'^' ''■ ^^^' '■ ^' ^' ic>ns of section 2304, to enter a homestead who may have 
heretofore entered, under the homestead laws, a quantity of land less than 
1 60 acres, shall be permitted to enter so much land as, when added to the 
quantity previously entered, shall not exceed 160 acres. . 
Widow and minor children Sec. 2307. lu casc of thc dcatli of auv person who 

of persons entitled to home- ini •!! i i i i*. 

^'s'^.TuM 1872 c. 338, s. 3, v. would bc cutitlcd to Si homcstcad under the provisions of 
^^' p- ^^^- section 2304, his widow, if unmarried, or in case of her 

death or marriage, then his minor orphan children, by a guardian duly 
appointed and officially accredited at the Department of the Interior, shall 
be entitled to all the benefits enumerated in this chapter, subject to all the 
provisions as to settlement and improvement therein contained ; but if such 
person died during his term of enlistment, the whole term of his enlist- 
ment shall be deducted from the time heretofore required to perfect the title. 
Actual service in the Army Sec. 2308. Whcrc Si partv at thc datc of his entrv of a 

or Nrtvy equivalent to resi- pit i it 11 i t 

'^Tjun^^sra, c. 338, s. 4, V. ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ uudcr the homestead laws, or subsequently 
^^^ p- ^^3- ' thereto, was actually enlisted and employed in the Army 

or Navy of the United States, his services therein shall, in the adminis- 
tration of such homestead lavfs, be construed to be equivalent, to all intents 
and purposes, to a residence for the same length of time upon the tract so 
entered. And if his entry has been canceled by reason of his absence from 
such tract while in the military or naval service of the United States, and 
such tract has not been disposed of, his entry shall be restored; but if such 
tract has been disposed of, the party may enter another tract subject to 
entry under the homestead laws, and his right to a patent therefor may be 
determined by the proofs touching his residence and cultivation of the 
first tract and his absence therefrom in such service. 

8 ]une,T8y2,^c!338,V5!v; ^^^' 2309. Evcry soldier, sailor, marine, officer, or 
^^' p- ^^*- other person coming within the provisions of section 2304, 

may, as well by an agent as in person, enter upon such homestead by filing 
a declaratory statement, as in pre-emption cases; but such claimant in 
person shall within the time prescribed make his actual entry, commence 
settlements and improvements on the same, and thereafter fulfill all the 
requirements of la.w. 



57 

Sec. 2310. Each of the chiefs, warriors, and heads of Muniet^t^^'elShti'oT 
families of the Stockbridge Munsee tribes of Indians ..\^ A!'''' "■'''''■ '' 
residing in the county of Shawana, State of Wisconsin, may, under the 
direction of the Secretary of the Interior, enter a homestead and become 
entitled to all the benefits of this chapter, free from any fee or charge ; and 
any part of their present reservation, which is abandoned for that purpose, 
may be sold, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, and the 
proceeds applied for the benefit of such Indians as may settle on home- 
steads, to aid them in improving the same. 

Sec. 2311. The homestead secured, by virtue of the of^sSSeMunseT''''' 
preceding section, shall not be subject to any tax, levy, or v.^isl^p'sV*^^^' *"■ ^^^' ''*' 
sale ; nor shall it be sold, conveyed, mortgaged, or in any manner incum- 
bered, except upon the decree of the district court of the United States, as 
provided in the following section : 

Sec. 2312. Whenever any of the chiefs, warriors, or comSS'n,,.''""""' '" 
heads of families of the tribes mentioned in section twenty- y.^ia^p'sV^^^' *"' ^^^' '' *' 
three hundred and ten, having filed with the clerk of the district court of 
the United States a declaration of his intention to become a citizen of the 
United States, and to dissolve all relations with any Indian tribe, two 
years previous thereto, appears in such court, and proves to the satisfaction 
thereof, by the testimony of two citizens, that for five years last past he 
has adopted the habits of civilized life; that he has maintained himself 
and family by his own industry; that he reads and speaks the English 
language ; that he is well disposed to become a peaceable and orderly citizen ; 
and that he has sufficient capacity to manage his own affairs; the court 
may enter a decree admitting him to all the rights of a citizen of the United 
States, and thenceforth he shall be no longer held or treated as a member 
of any Indian tribe, but shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges, 
and be subject to all the duties and liabilities to taxation of other citizens 
of the United States. But nothing herein contained shall be construed to 
deprive such chiefs, warriors, or heads of families of annuities to which 
they are or may be entitled. 

REPAYMENTS. 



Sec. 2362. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized, Purchase-money refunded 

T 1 . • /» • 1 Where sale cannot be con- 

upon proof being made, to his satisfaction, that any tract '^''{^^.tan., 1825, ,-. 5, v. *, p. 
of land has been erroneously sold by the United States, so v^n.^lfe' ^^'^^'''•^•^■'^' 
that from any cause the sale cannot be confirmed, to repay to the purchaser, 
or to his legal representatives or assignees, the sum of money which was 
paid therefor, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.* 
Sec. 2363. Where any tract of land has been errone- ^^Refunding in certain cases j 
ously sold, as described in the preceding section, and the nflm'^^^^' ''^^''■^'^■ 
money which was paid for the same has been invested in any stocks held 
in trust, or has been paid into the Treasury to the credit of any trust-fund, 
it is lawful, by the sale of such portion of the stocks as may be necessary 
for the purpose, or out of such trust-fund, to repay the purchase-money to 
the parties entitled thereto. 



* Amended by act of June 16, 1880, (21 Stats., 287; Appendix No. 20.) 



58 



DEPOSITS FOR SPECIAL SURVEYS. 

Sec. 2401. When the settlers in any township, not mineral or reserved 
by Government, desire a survey made of the same, under the authority of 
the surveyor-general, and file an application therefor in writing, and deposit 
in a proper United States depository, to the credit of the United States, a 
sum sufficient to pay for such survey, together with all expenditures inci- 
dent thereto, without cost or claim for indemnity on the United States, it 
may be lawful for the surveyor-general, under such instructions as may be 
given him by the Commissioner of the General Land-Office, and in accord- 
ance with law, to survey such township and make return thereof to the 
general and proper local land-office, provided the township so proposed to . 
be surveyed is within the range of the regular progress of the public sur- 
veys embraced by existing standard lines or bases for the township and 
subdivisional surveys. 

Sec. 2402. The deposit of money in a proper United States depository, 
under the provisions of the preceding section, shall be deemed an appro- 
priation of the sums so deposited for the objects contemplated by that 
section, and the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to cause the sums 
so deposited to be placed to the credit of the proper appropriations for the 
surveying service; but any excesses in such sums over and above the actual 
cost of the surveys, comprising all expenses incident thereto, for which they 
were severally deposited, shall be repaid to the depositors respectively. 

Sec. 2403. Where settlers make deposits in accordance with the pro- 
visions of section twenty-four hundred and (seven) (one), the amount so 
deposited shall go in part payment for their lands situated in the townships, 
the surveying of which is paid for out of such deposits. [Providedy That 
no certificate issued for a deposit of money for the survey of lands shall be 
received in payment for lands except at the land-office in which the lands 
surveyed for which the deposit was made are subject to entry, and not else- 
where; but this section shall not be held to impair, prejudice, or affect in 
any manner certificates issued or deposits and contracts made under the 
provisions of said act prior to the passage of this act.] * 



BOARD OF EQUITABLE ADJUDICATIOI?-. 



Cases of "suspended en- g^c. 2450. Thc Commissiouer of the General Land- 

tries oi public lands " and 

ilnd'cTa'ims/'^'^"^'"^^'"" Officc is authorlzcd to decide upon principles of equity 
p-IV'sAugf isVc. 78,^s: and justice, as recognized in courts of equity, and in accord- 
c.' i52%^i! V. io,^f Sa ^'*^' ance with regulations to be settled by the Secretary of the 
Treasury [Interior: see act February 27, 1877], the Attorney-General, 
and the Commissioner, conjointly, consistently with such principles, all 
cases of suspended entries of public lands and of suspended pre-emption 
land-claims, and to adjudge in what cases patents shall issue upon the same. 
hot'^ipj'mvld"' ""'^''' ''^°''^' ^^^- 2451. Every such adjudication shall be approved 
s.p.ir' ^^^^' *"■ ^^' '■ ^' ^' by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney-Gen- 
eral, acting as a board ; and shall operate only to divest the United States 



The portion within brackets is an amendment added bv act of August 7, 1882. 



59 

of the title of the lands embraced thereby, without prejudice to the rights 
of conflicting claimants. 

Sec. 2452. The Commissioner is directed to report to Report of adjudications 

, • /-> . preceding sections. 



3 Aug., 1846, c. 78, a. 2, v. 
9. p. 51. 



Congress at the first session after any such adjudications 

have been made a list of the same under the classes prescribed by law, with 

a statement of the principles upon which each class was determined. 

Sec. 2453. The Commissioner shall arrangre his decis- . Decisions to be arranged 

O iiito classes. 

ions into two classes; the first class to embrace all such 9, p.^i.^-' ^^^' *^- "8, .--3, v. 

cases of equity as may be finally confirmed by the board, and the second 

class to embrace all such cases as the board reject and decide to be invalid. 

Sec. 2454. For all lands covered by claims which are . ^f ^^^^^ *? i*^"^ for lands 

-I in the first class, and lands m 

placed m the first class, patents shall issue to the claim- ^^Xd smL!" '^""^ '° '^^ 
ants ; and all lands embraced by claims placed in the second 9, p.^^' ^**^' ''' ^®' '' ^ ^' 
class shall ipso facto revert to, and become part of, the public domain. 
Sec. 2455. It may be lawful for the Commissioner of commissioner to order into 

_^ , market lands of second class. 

the (jreneral L/and-Umce to order into market, after due g^p."^!.^' ^^^' "■ ^^' '•^'''• 
notice, without the formality and expense of a proclamation of the Pres- 
ident, all lands of the second class, though heretofore unproclaimed and 
unofPered, and such other isolated or disconnected tracts or parcels of unof- 
fered lands which, in his judgment, it would be proper to expose to sale in 
like manner. But public notice of at least thirty days shall be given by 
the land- officers of the district in which such lands may be situated, pursu- 
ant to the directions of the Commissioner. 

Sec. 2456. Where patents have been already issued on ^^fents surrendered aad 

,., f»llirv» 1 • °^^ °'^^^ issued in certaia 

entries which are connrmed by the omcers who are consti- ''^^March, issa c. 152 s 2 
tuted the board of adjudication, the Commissioner of the ^•^°'^-^^- 
General Land -Office, upon the canceling of the outstanding patent, is 
authorized to issue a new patent, on such confirmation, to the person wha 
made the entry, his heirs or assigns. 

Sec. 2457. The precedinp; provisions from section . Extent of foregoing provis. 

JT O JL ^ ions. 

twenty-four hundred and fifty to section twenty-four hun- p.^!."^""®' ^®^' "■ ^' ^- "' 
dred and fifty-six, inclusive, shall be applicable to all cases of suspended 
entries and locations, which have arisen in the General Land-Office since 
the twenty-sixth day of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-six, as well as ta 
all cases of a similar kind which may hereafter occur, embracing as well 
locations under bounty-land warrants as ordinary entries or sales, including 
homestead entries and pre-emption locations or cases ; where the law has 
been substantially complied with, and the error or informality arose from 
ignorance, accident, or mistake which is satisfactorily explained ; and where 
the rights of no other claimant or pre-emptor are prejudiced, or where there 
is no adverse claim. 



Sec. 2478. The Commissioner of the General Land- power of commissioner oi 

Land-Office to enforce this 

Office, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, ^'"^• 

is authorized to enforce and carry into execution, by appropriate regulations, 

every part of the provisions of this Title not otherwise specially provided 

for. 

* * * * * * 

[The Rules and Regulations of the Board of Equitable Adjudication 
will be found printed hereafter — see Appendix No. 22.] 



60 

[ No. 2.] 

AN ACT to provide for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States. 

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That in all cases where any oath, 
affirmation, or affidavit shall be made or taken before any register or receiver, 
or either or both of them, of any local land office in the United States or 
any Territory thereof, or where any oath, affirmation, or affidavit shall be 
made or taken before any person authorized by the laws of any State or 
Territory of the United States to administer oaths or affirmations, or take 
affidavits, and such oaths, affirmations or affidavits are made, used, or filed 
in any of said local land offices, or in the General Land Office, as well in 
€ases arising under any or either of the orders, regulations, or instructions 
concerning any of the public lands of the United States, issued by the Com- 
missioner of the General Land Office or other proper officer of the govern- 
ment of the United States, as under the laws of the United States, in any- 
wise relating to or affecting any right, claim, or title, or any contest therefor, 
to any of the public lands of the United States, and if any person or persons 
shall, taking such oath, affirmation, or affidavit, knowingly, willfully, or 
corruptly swear or affirm falsely, the same shall be deemed and taken to be 
perjury, and the person or persons guilty thereof shall, upon conviction, be. 
liable to the punishment prescribed for that offense by the laws of the 
United States. 

Approved March 3, 1857. (11 Stat., 250.) 

Kevised Statutes, Sec. 5392. Every person who, having taken an 
oath before a competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any case in which a 
law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered, that he will 
testify, declare, depose, or certify truly, or that any written testimony, dec- 
laration, deposition, or certificate by him subscribed is true, willfully and 
contrary to such oath states or subscribes any material matter which he does 
not believe to be true, is guilty of perjury, and shall be punished by a fine 
of not more than two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment, at hard labor, 
not more than five years, and shall, moreover, thereafter, be incapable of 
givhig testimony in any court of the United States until such time as the 
judgment against him is reversed. [See § 1750.] 

[No. 3.] 

AN ACT to amend section twent j-tvvo hundred and ninety-one of the Revised Statutes of the 
United States, in relation to proof required in homestead entries. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That the proof of residence, occu- 
pation, or cultivation, the affidavit of non -alienation, and the oath of alle- 
giance, required to be made by section twenty-two hundred and ninety-one 
of the Revised Statutes of the United States, may be made before the judge, 
or in his absence, before the clerk of any court of record of the county and 
State, or district and Territory, in which the lands are situated; and if said 
lands are situated in any unorganized count)^, such proof may be made in 
a similar manner in any adjacent county in said State or Territory ; and the 
proof, affidavit, and oath, when so made and duly subscribed, shall have 
the same force and effect as if made before the register or receiver of the 



61 

proper land-district; and the same shall be transmitted by such judge, or 
the clerk of his court, to the register and the receiver, with the fee and 
charges allowed by law to him; and the register and receiver shall be 
entitled to the same fees for examining and approving said testimony as are 
now allowed by law for taking the same. 

Sec. 2. That if any witness making such proof, or the said applicant 
making such affidavit or oath, swears falsely as to any material matter 
contained in said proof, affidavits, or oaths, the said false swearing being 
willful and corrupt, he shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and shall be 
liable to the same pains and penalties as if he had sworn falsely before the 
register. 

Approved March 3, 1877. (19 Stat., 403.) 

[No. 4.] 

AN ACT to amend Sections 2262 and 2301 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in 
relation to the settler's affidavit in pre-emption and commuted homestead entries. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and Souse of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That the affidavit required to be 
made by sections twenty-two hundred and sixty-two and twenty-three 
hundred and one of the Revised Statutes of the United States, may be 
made before the clerk of the county court or of any court of record, of the 
county and State or district and Territory in which the lands are situated ; 
and if said lands are situated in any unorganized county, such affidavit 
may be made in a similar manner in any adjacent county in said State or 
Territory, and the affidavit so made and duly subscribed shall have the 
same force and effect as if made before the register or receiver of the 
proper land district; and the same shall be transmitted by such clerk of 
the court to the register and receiver with the fee and charges allowed by 
law. 

Approved June 9, 1880. (21 Stat., 169.) 

[No. 5.] 

AN ACT relating to the public lands of the United States. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and Souse of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled. That when any lands of the 
United States shall have been entered and the Government price paid 
therefor in full no criminal suit or proceeding by or in the name of the 
United States shall thereafter be had or further maintained for any tres- 
passes upon or for or on account of any material taken from said lands 
and no civil suit or proceeding shall be had or further maintained for or 
on account of any trespasses upon or material taken from the said lands of 
the United States in the ordinary clearing of land, in working a mining 
claim or for agricultural or domestic purposes or for maintaining improve- 
ments upon the land of any bona fide settler or for or on account of any 
timber or material taken or used by any person without fault or knowledge 
of the trespass or for or on account of any timber taken or used without 
fraud or collusion by any person who in good faith paid the officers or 
agents of the United States for the same or for or on account of any alleged 
conspiracy in relation thereto : Provided, That the provisions of this sec- 
tion shall apply only to trespasses and acts done or committed and con- 



62 

spiracles entered into prior to March first, eighteen hundred and seventy- 
nine : And provided further. That defendants in such suits or proceedings 
shall exhibit to the proper courts or officer the evidence of such entry and 
payment and shall pay all costs accrued up to the time of such entry. 

Sec. 2. That persons who have heretofore under any of the homestead 
laws entered lands properly subject to such entry, or persons to whom the 
right of those having so entered for homesteads, may have been attempted 
to be transferred by bona fide instrument in writing, may entitle them- 
selves to said lands by paying the Government price therefor, and in no 
case less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and the amount 
heretofore paid the Government upon said lands shall be taken as part 
payment of said price: Provided, This shall in no wise interfere with the 
rights or claims of others who may have subsequently entered such lands 
under the homestead laws. 

Sec. 3. That the price of lands now subject to entry which were raised 
to two dollars and fifty cents per acre, and put in market prior to January, 
eighteen hundred and sixty-one, by reason of the grant of alternate sec- 
tions for railroad purposes is hereby reduced to one dollar and twenty -five 
cents per acre. 

Sec. 4. This act shall not apply to any of the mineral lands of the 
United States; and no person who shall be prosecuted for or proceeded 
against on account of any trespass committed or material taken from any 
of the public lands after March first, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine 
shall be entitled to the benefit thereof. 

Approved June 15, 1880. (21 Stat., 236.) 

[No. 6.] 

AN ACT to provide additional regulations for homestead and pre-emption entries of public 

lands. 

Be it ertacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of Amerioa in Congress assembled, That before final proof shall be 
submitted by any person claiming to enter agricultural lands under the 
laws providing for pre-emption or homestead entries, such person shall file 
with the register of the proper land-office a notice of his or her intention 
to make such proof, stating therein the description of lands to be entered, 
and the names of the witnesses by whom the necessary facts will be estab- 
lished. Upon the filing of such notice the register shall publish a notice, 
that such application has been made, once a week for the period of thirty 
days, in a newspaper to be by him designated as published nearest to such 
land, and he shall also post such notice in some conspicuous place in his 
office for the same period. Such notice shall contain the names of the 
witnesses as stated in the application. At the expiration of said period of 
thirty days the claimant shall be entitled to make proof in the manner 
heretofore provided by law. The Secretary of the Interior shall make all 
necessary rules for giving effect to the foregoing provisions. 

Approved March 3, 1879. (20 Stat., 472.) 

[No. 7.] 

AN ACT to grant additional rights to homestead settlers on public lands within railroad 

limits. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America hi Congress assembled, That from and after the passage 



63 

of this act, the even sections within the limits of any grant of public lands 
to any railroad company, or to any military road company, or to any State 
in aid of any railroad or military road, shall be open to settlers under the 
homestead laws to the extent of one hundred and sixty acres to each settler, 
and any person who has, under existing laws, taken a homestead on any 
even section within the limits of any railroad or military road land-grant, 
and who by existing laws shall have been restricted to eighty acres, may 
enter under the homestead laws an additional eighty acres adjoining the 
land embraced in his original entry, if such additional land be subject to 
entry; or if such person so elect, he may surrender his entry to the United 
States for cancellation, and thereupon be entitled to enter lands under the 
homestead laws the same as if the surrendered entry had not been made. 
And any person so making additional entry of eighty acres, or new entry 
after the surrender and cancellation of his original entry, shall be permitted 
so to do without payment of fees and commissions; and the residence and 
cultivation of such person upon and of the land embraced in his original 
entry shall be considered residence and cultivation for the same length of 
time upon and of the land embraced in his additional or new entry, and 
shall be deducted from the five years' residence and cultivation required by 
law: Provided, That in no case sholl patent issue upon an additional or 
new homestead entry under this aot until the person has actually, and in 
conformity with the homestead laws, occupied, resided upon, and cultivated 
the land embraced therein at least one year. 

Approved March 3, 1879. (20 Stat., 472.) 

[No. 8.] 

AN ACT to grant additional rights to homestead settlers on public lands within railroad 
limits in the States of Missouri and Arkansas. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage 
of this act the odd sections within the limits of any grant of public lands 
to any railroad company in the States of Missouri and Arkansas, or to 
such States respectively, in aid of any railroad, where the even sections 
have been granted to and received by any railroad company or by such 
States respectively in aid of any railroad, shall be open to settlers under 
the homestead laws to the extent of one hundred and sixty acres to each 
settler ; and any person who has under existing laws taken a homestead on 
any section within the limits of any railroad grant in said States, and who 
by existing laws shall have been restricted to eighty acres, may enter under 
the homestead laws an additional eighty acres adjoining the land embraced 
in his original entry, if such additional land be subject to entry; or if such 
person so elect, he may surrender his entry to the United States for can- 
cellation, and thereupon be entitled to enter lands under the homestead 
laws the same as if the surrendered entry had not been made. And any 
person so making additional entry of eighty acres, or new entry after the 
cancellation of his original entry, shall be permitted to do so without pay- 
ment of fees or commissions; and the residence of such person upon and 
cultivation of the land embraced in his original entry shall be considered 
residence and cultivation for the same length of time upon and of the land 
embraced in his additional or new entry, and shall be deducted from the 
five years' residence and cultivation required by law : Provided, That in 



64 

no case shall patent issue upon an additional or new homestead entry under 
this act until the person has actually, and in conformity with the home- 
stead laws, occupied, resided upon, and cultivated the land embraced 
therein at least one year. 

Approved July 1, 1879. (21 Stat., 46.) 

[No. 9.] . • 

AN ACT for the relief of settlers on the public lands in districts subject to grasshopper 

incursions. 

Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be lawful for home- 
stead and pre-emption settlers on the public lands, and in all cases where pre- 
emptions are authorized by law, where crops have been or may be destroyed 
or seriously injured by grasshoppers, to leave and be absent from said lands 
under such rules and regulations, as to proof of the same, as the Commis- 
sioner of the General Land Office shall prescribe ; but in no case shall such 
absence extend beyond one year continuously ; and during such absence 
no adverse rights shall attach to said lands, such settlers being allowed to 
resume and perfect their settlement as though no such absence had occurred. 

Sec. 2. That the time for making final proof and payment by pre-emp- 
tors whose crops shall have been destroyed or injured as aforesaid, may, in 
the discretion of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, be extended 
for one year after the expiration of the term of absence provided for in the 
first section of this act ; and all the rights and privileges extended by this 
act to homestead and pre-emption settlers shall apply to and include the 
settlers under an act entitled "An act to encourage the growth of timber 
on western prairies,'^ approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy- 
three, and the acts amendatory thereof. 

Approved July 1, 1879. (21 Stat., 48.) 

[No. 10.] 

AN ACT for the relief of certain homestead and pre-emption settlers in Kansas and 

Nebraska. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be lawful for home- 
stead and pre-emption settlers on the public lands or pre-emption settlers 
upon Indian reservations in the States of Kansas and Nebraska west of the 
sixth principal meridian, where there has been a loss or failure of crops 
from unavoidable cause, in the year of 1879 or 1880, to leave and be 
absent from said lands until the first day of October, 1881, under such 
rules and regulations as to proof and notice as the Commissioner of the 
General Land Office may prescribe ; and during said absence no adverse 
rights shall attach to said lands, such settlers being allowed to resume and 
perfect their settlement as though no such absence had occurred. 

Sec 2. That the time for making final proof and payment by such pre- 
emptors is hereby extended for one year after the expiration of the term of 
absence provided for in the first section of this act ; but in cases where the 
purchase money is by law payable in installments, the first unpaid install- 
ment shall be held not to be due until one year after the expiration of the 
leave of absence aforesaid. 

Approved Juue 4, 1880. (21 Stat., 543.) 



65 

[No. 11.] 

AN ACT to amend section 2297 of the Revised Statutes, relating to homestead settlers. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That section numbered twenty- 
two hundred and ninety -seven, of title numbered thirty-two, be amended 
by adding thereto the following proviso, namely : Provided, That w^here 
there may be climatic reasons the Commissioner of the General Land Office 
may, in his discretion, allow the settler twelve months from the date of 
filing in which to commence his residence on said land under such rules 
and regulations as he may prescribe. 

Approved March 3, 1881. (21 Stat., 511.) 

i^o. 12.] 

AN ACT for the relief of settlers on the public lands under the pue-emption laws. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who has made 
a settlement on the public lands under the pre-emption laws, and has sub- 
sequent to such settlement changed his filing in pursuance of law to that 
for a homestead entry upon the same tract of land, shall be entitled, sub- 
ject to all the provisions of the law relating to homesteads, to have the time 
required to perfect his title under the homestead laws computed from the 
date of his original settlement heretofore made, or hereafter to be made, 
under the pre-emption laws. 

Approved June 14, 1878. (20 Stat., 113.) 

[No. 13.] 

AN ACT to provide for issuing patents for public lands claimed under the pre-emption and 
homestead laws, in cases Avhere the claimants have become insane. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled. That in all cases in which parties 
who regularly initiated claims to public lands as settlers thereon according 
to the provisions of the pre-emption or homestead laws, have become 
insane or shall hereafter become insane before the expiration of the time 
during which their residence, cultivation, or improvement of the land 
claimed by them is required by law to be continued in order to entitle them 
to make the proper proof and perfect their claims, it shall be lawful for the 
required proof and payment to be made for their benefit by any person 
who may be legally authorized to act for them during their disability, and 
thereupon their claims shall be confirmed and patented, provided it shall 
be shown by proof satisfactory to the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office that the parties complied in good faith with the legal requirements 
up to the time of their becoming insane, and the requirement in home- 
stead entries of ^n affidavit of allegiance by the applicant in certain cases 
as a prerequisite^o the issuing of the patents shall be dispensed with so far 
as regards such insane parties. 

Approved June 8, 1880. (21 Stat., 166.) 
8198—5 



66 

[No. 14.] 

AN ACT making appi'opriations to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for fiscal years 
ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-five, and prior years, and for other 
purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Mepresentatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled^ * Jic * * * 

Sec. 15. That any Indian, born in the United States, who is the head 
of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and who 
has abandoned, or may hereafter abandon, his tribal relations, shall, on 
making satisfactory proof of such abandonment under rules to be prescribed 
by the Secretary of the Interior, be entitled to the benefits of the act enti- 
tled ^^An Act to secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public domain,'^ 
approved May twentieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and the acts 
amendatory thereof, except that the provisions of the eighth section of the 
said act shall not be held to apply to entries made under this act : Provided^ 
however, That the title to lands acquired by any Indian by virtue hereof 
shall not be subject to alienation or incumbrance, either by voluntary con- 
veyance, or the judgment, decree, or order of any court, and shall be and 
remain inalienable for a period of five years from the date of the patent 
issued therefor : Provided, That any such Indian shall be entitled to his 
distributive share of all annuities, tribal funds, lands, and other property, 
the same as though he had maintained his tribal relations ; and any trans- 
fer, alienation, or incumbrance of any interest he may hold or claim by 
reason of his former tribal relations shall be void. 

Sec. 16. That in all cases in which Indians have heretofore entered 
public lands under the homestead law, and have proceeded in accordance 
with the regulations prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office, or in which they may hereafter be allowed to so enter under said 
regulations prior to the promulgation of regulations to be established by 
the Secretary of the Interior under the fifteenth section of this act, and in 
which the conditions prescribed by law have been or ma)' be complied 
with, the entries so allowed are hereby confirmed, and patents shall be 
issued thereon ; subject, however, to the restrictions and limitations con- 
tained in the fifteenth section of this act in regard to alienation and 
incumbrance. 

Approved March 3, 1875. (18 Stat., 420.) 

[No. 15.] 

AN ACT defining the manner in which certain land-scrip may be assigned »nd located, or 
applied by j>x;tual settlers, and providing for the issue of patents in the name of the locator 
or his legal representatives. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever, in cases prose- 
cuted under the acts of Congress of June twenty -second, eighteen hundred 
and sixty, March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and the first 
section of the act of June tenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, pro- 
viding for the adjustment of private land claims in the States of Florida, 
Louisiana, and Missouri, the validity of the claim has been, or shall be 
hereafter, recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States, and the 
court has decreed that the plaintiff or plaintiffs is or are entitled to enter 
a certain number of acres upon the public lands of the United States, 



67 

subject to private entry at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, or to 
receive certificate of location for as much of the land the title to which has 
been established as has been disposed of by the United States, certificate of 
location shall be issued by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 
attested by the seal of said office, to be located as provided for in the sixth 
section of the aforesaid act of Congress of June twenty-second, eighteen 
hundred and sixty, or applied according to the provisions of the second 
section of this act; and said certificate of location or scrip shall be sub- 
divided according to the request of the confirmee or confirmees, and, as 
nearly as practicable, in conformity with the legal divisions and sub- 
divisions of the public lands of the United States, and shall be, and are 
hereby declared to be, assignable by deed or instrument of writing, accord- 
ing to the form and pursuant to regulations prescribed by the Commis- 
sioner of the General Land Office, so as to vest the assignee with all the 
rights of the original owners of the scrip, including the right to locate the 
scrip in his own name. 

Sec. 2. That such scrip shall be received from actual settlers only in 
payment of pre-emption claims or in commutation of homestead claims, in 
the same manner and to the same extent as is now authorized by law in 
the case of military bonnty-land warrants. 

Sec. 3. That the register of the proper land-office, upon auy such cer- 
tificate being locat^ed, shall issue, in the name of the party making the 
location, a certificate of entry, upon which, if it shall appear to the satisfac- 
tion of the Commissioner of the General Land Office that such certificate 
has been fairly obtained, according to the true intent and meaning of this 
act, a patent shall issue, as in other cases, in the name of the locator or his 
legal representative. 

Sec. 4. That the provisions of this act respecting the assignment and 
patenting of scrip and its application to pre-emption and homestead claims 
shall apply to the indemnity-certificates of location provided for by the act 
of the second of June, eighteeji hundred and fifty-eight, entitled ''An Act 
to provide for the location of certain confirmed private land-claims in the 
State of Missouri, and for other purposes.'^ 

Approved January 28, 1879. (20 Stat., 274.) 

[No. 16.] 

AN ACT to amend an act entitled "An act to encourage the growth of timber on the 

Western Prairies."' 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That the act entitled "An Act to 
amend the act entitled 'An Act to encourage the growth of timber on 
Western Prairies,^ ^' approved March thirteenth, eighteen hundred and 
seventy-four, be and the same is hereby amended so as to read as follows : 
That any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the 
age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall 
have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the 
naturalization laws of the United States, who shall plant, protect, and 
keep in a healthy, growing condition for eight years ten acres of timber, 
on any quarter-section of any of the public lands of the United States, or 
five acres on any legal subdivision of eighty acres, or two and one-half 
acres on any legal subdivision of forty acres or less, shall be entitled to a 



68 

patent for the whole of said quarter-section, or of such legal subdivision 
of eighty or forty acres, or fractional subdivision of less than forty acres, 
as the case may be, at the expiration of said eight years, on making proof 
of such fact by not less than two credible witnesses, and a full compliance 
of the further conditions as provided in section two: Provided^ further, 
That not more than one quarter of any section shall be thus granted, and 
that no person shall make more than one entry under the provisions of 
this act. 

Sec. 2. That the person applying for the benefits of this act shall, upon 
application to the register of the land-district in which he or she is about 
to make such entry, make affidavit, before the register or the receiver, or 
the clerk of some court of record, or officer authorized to administer oaths 
in the district where the land is situated ; which affidavit shall be as follows, 

to v/it: I, , having filed my application, number , for 

an entry under the provisions of an act entitled *^An Act to amend an 
act entitled ^An Act to encourage the growth of timber on the Western 

Prairies, ^^ approved , 187-, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I 

am the head of a family (or over twenty-one years of age), and a citizen 
of the United States (or have declared my intention to become such) ; that 
the section of land specified in my said application is composed exclusively 
of prairie lands, or other lands devoid of timber; that this filing and entry 
is made for the cultivation of timber, and for my own exclusive use and 
benefit; that I have made the said application in good faith, and not for 
the purpose of speculation, or directly or indirectly for the use or benefit 
of any other person or persons whomsoever; that I intend to hold and 
cultivate the land, and to fully comply with the provisions of this said act; 
and that I have not heretofore made an entry under this act, or the acts of 
which this is amendatory. And upon filing said affidavit with said regis- 
ter and said receiver, and on payment of ten dollars if the tract applied 
for is more than eighty acres, and five dollars if it is eighty acres or less, 
he or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity of land 
specified; and the party making an entry of a quarter-section under the 
provisions of this act shall be required to break or plow five acres covered 
thereby the first year, five acres the second year, and to cultivate to crop 
or otherwise the five acres broken or plowed the first year ; the third year 
he or she shall cultivate to crop or otherwise the five acres broken the 
second year, and to plant in timber, seeds, or cuttings the five acres first 
broken or plowed, and to cultivate and put in crop or otherwise the remain- 
ing five acres, and the fourth year to plant in timber, seeds, or cuttings the 
remaining five acres. All entries of less quantity than one quarter-section 
shall be plowed, planted, cultivated and planted to trees, tree-seeds, or 
cuttings, in the same manner and in the same proportion as hereinbefore 
provided for a quarter-section : Provided, however, That in case such trees, 
seeds, or cuttings shall be destroyed by grasshoppers, or by extreme and 
unusual drouth, for any year or term of years, the time for planting such 
trees, seeds, or cuttings shall be extended one year for every such year that 
they are so destroyed : Provided further, That the person making such 
entry shall, before he or she shall be entitled to such extension of time, 
file with the register and the receiver of the proper land-office an affidavit, 
corroborated by two witnesses, setting forth the destruction of such trees, 
and that, in consequence of such destruction, he or she is compelled to ask 



I 



69 

an extension of time, in accordance with the provisions of this act : And 
provided further, That no final certificate shall be given, or patent issued, 
for the land so entered, until the expiration of eight years from the date 
of such entry ; and if, at the expiration of such time, or at any time within 
five years thereafter, the person making such entry, or, if he or she be dead, 
his or her heirs or legal representatives, shall prove by two credible wit- 
nesses that he or she or they have planted, and, for not less than eight years, 
have cultivated and protected such quantity and character of trees as afore- 
said ; that not less than twenty-seven hundred trees were planted on each 
acre, and that at the time of making such proof there shall be then grow- 
ing at least six hundred and seventy-five living and thrifty trees to each 
acre, they shall receive a patent for such tract of land. 

Sec. 3. That if at any time after the filing of said affidavit, and prior 
to the issuing of the patent for said land, the claimant shall fail to comply 
w^ith any of the requirements of this act, then and in that event such land 
shall be subject to entry under the homestead laws, or by some other per- 
son under the provisions of this act: Provided, That the party making 
claim to said land, either as a homestead settler or under this act, shall 
give, at the time of filing his application, such notice to the original claim- 
ant as shall be prescribed by the rules established by the Commissioner of 
the General Land Office ; and the rights of the parties shall be determined 
as in other contested cases. 

Sec. 4. That no land acquired under the provisions of this act shall, 
in any event, become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts con- 
tracted prior to the issuing of the final certificate therefor. 

Sec. 5. That the Commissioner of the General Land Office is hereby 
required to prepare and issue such rules and regulations, consistent with 
this act, as shall be necessary and proper to carry its provisions into effect; 
and that the registers and receivers of the several land-offices shall each 
be entitled to receive two dollars at the time of entry, and the like sum 
when the claim is finally established and the final certificate issued. 

Sec. 6. That the fifth section of the act entitled ^^An Act in addition to 
an act to punish crimes against the United States, and for other purposes," 
approved March third, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to 
all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits required or authorized by this act. 

Sec. 7. That parties who have already made entries under the acts 
approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy- three, and March 
thirteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, of which this is amendatory, 
shall be permitted to complete the same upon full compliance with the 
provisions of this act; that is, they shall, at the time of making their final 
proof, have had under cultivation, as required by this act, an amount of 
timber sufficient to make the number of acres required by this act. 

Sec. 8. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby 
repealed. 

Approved June 14, 1878. (20 Stat., 113.) 

[No. 17.] 

AN ACT for the sale of timber lands in the States of California, Oregon, Nevada, and in 

Washington Territory. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled. That surveyed public lands of 



70 

the United States within the States of California, Oregon, and Nevada, 
and in Washington Territory, not included within military, Indian, or 
other reservations of the United States, valuable chiefly for timber, but 
unfit for cultivation, and which have not been offered at public sale accord- 
ing to law, may be sold to citizens of the United States, or persons who 
have declared their intention to become such, in quantities not exceeding 
one hundred and sixty acres to any one person or association of persons, 
at the minimum price of two dollars and fifty cents per acre ; and lands 
valuable chiefly for stone may be sold on the same terms as timber lands : 
Provided, That nothing herein contained shall defeat or impair any bona- 
fide claim under any law of the United States, or authorize the sale of any 
mining claim, or the improvements of any bona-fide settler, or lands con- 
taining gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or coal, or lands selected by the said 
States under any law of the United States donating lands for internal 
improvements, education, or other purposes : And provided further , That 
none of the rights conferred by the act approved July twenty-sixth, 
eighteen hundred and sixty-six, entitled '^An Act granting the right of 
way to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, and for other pur- 
poses,'' shall be abrogated by this act ; and all patents granted shall be 
subject to any vested and accrued water rights, or rights to ditches and 
reservoirs used in connection with such water rights, as may have been 
acquired under and by the provisions of said act ; and such rights shall be 
expressly reserved in any patent issued under this act. 

Sec. 2. That any person desiring to avail himself of the provisions of 
this act shall file with the register of the proper district a written statement 
in duplicate, one of which is to be transmitted to the General Land Office, 
designating by legal subdivisions the particular tract of land he desires to 
purchase, setting forth that the same is unfit for cultivation, and valuable 
chiefly for its timber or stone ; that it is uninhabited ; contains no mining 
or other improvements, except for ditch or canal purposes, where any such 
do exist, save such as were made by or belong to the applicant, nor, as 
deponent verily believes, any valuable deposit of gold, silver, cinnabar, 
copper, or coal ; that deponent has made no other application under this 
act; that he does not apply to purchase the same on speculation, but in 
good faith to appropriate it to his own exclusive use and benefit; and that 
he has not, directly or indirectly, made any agreement or contract, in any 
way or manner, with any person or persons whatsoever, by which the title 
which he might acquire from the Government of the United should inure, 
in whole or in part, to the benefit of any person except himself; which 
statement must be verified by the oath of the applicant before the register 
or the receiver of the land-office within the district where the land is 
situated; and if any person taking such oath shall swear falsely in the 
premises, he shall be subject to all the pains and penalties of perjury, and 
shall forfeit the money which he may have paid for said lands, and all 
right and title to the same; and any grant or conveyance which he may 
have made, except in the hands of bona-fide purchasers, shall be null and 
void. 

Sec. 3. That upon the filing of said statement, as provided in the sec- 
ond section of this act, the register of the land-office shall post a notice of 
such application, embracing a description of the land by legal subdivisions, 
in liis office, for a period of sixty days, and shall furnish the applicant a 



71 

copy of the same for publication, at the expense of sucii applicant, in a 
newspaper published nearest the location of the premises, for a like period 
of time; and after the expiration of said sixty days, if no adv^erse claim 
shall have been filed, the person desiring to purchase shall furnish to the 
register of the land-office satisfactory evidence, first, that said notice of the 
application prepared by the register as afore^id was duly pubh'shed in a 
newspaper as herein required ; secondly, that the land is of the character 
contemplated in this act, unoccupied and wdthout improvements, other 
than those excepted, either mining or agricultural, and that it apparently 
•contains no valuable deposits of gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or coal; 
and upon payment to the proper officer of the purchase-money of said 
land, together with the fees of the register and the receiver, as provided 
for in case of mining claims in the twelfth section of the act approved 
May tenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, the applicant may be per- 
mitted to enter said tract, and, on the transmission to the General Land 
Office of the papers and testimony in the case, a patent shall issue thereon : 
Provided, That any person having a valid claim to any portion of the land 
may object, in writing, to the issuance of a patent to lands so held by him, 
stating the nature of his claim thereto ; and evidence shall be taken, and 
the merits of said objection shall be determined by the officers of the land- 
office, subject to appeal, as in other land cases. Effect shall be given to 
the foregoing provisions of this act by regulations to be prescribed by the 
-Commissioner of the General Land Office. 

^ ^ ;!; ^ >!« 5^ 

Sec. 6. That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions 
•of this act are hereby repealed. 

Approved June 3, 1878. (20 Stat., 89.) 

[No. 18.] 

AN ACT for the relief of settlers on public lands. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That when a pre-emption, home- 
■stead, or timber-culture claimant shall file a written relinquishment of his 
claim in the local land-office, the land covered by such claim shall be held 
as open to settlement and entry without further action on the part of the 
Commissioner of the General Land Office. 

Sec. 2. In all cases where any person has contested, paid the land-office 
fees, and procured the cancellation of any pre-emption, homestead, or 
timber-culture entry, he shall be notified by the register of the land-office 
•of the district in which such land is situated of such cancellation, and shall 
be allowed thirty days from date of such notice to enter said lands: 
Provided, That said register shall be entitled to a fee of one dollar for the 
giving of such notice, to be paid by the contestant, and not to be reported. 

Sec. 3. That any settler who has settled, or who shall hereafter settle, 
•on any of the public lands of the United States, whether surveyed or 
unsurveyed, with the intention of claiming the same under the homestead 
laws, shall be allowed the same time to file his homestead application and 
perfect his original entry in the United States Land Office as is now 
.allowed to settlers under the pre-emption laws to put their claims on record, 
and his ri^ht shall relate back to the date of settlement, the same as if he 
settled under the pre-emption laws. 

Approved May 14, 1880. (21 Stat., 140.) 



72 
[No. 19.] 

AN ACT providing for the sale of saline lands. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and Souse of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever it shall be made 
appear to the register and the receiver of any land-office of the United 
States that any lands within their district are saline in character, it shall 
be the duty of said register and said receiver, under the regulation of the 
General Land Office, to take testimony in reference to such lauds to 
ascertain their true character, and to report the same to the General Land 
Office; and if, upon such testimony, the Commissioner of the General 
Land Office shall find that such lands are saline and incapable of being 
purchased under any of the laws of the United States relative to the pub- 
lic domain, then, and in such case, such lands shall be offered for sale by 
public auction at the local land-office of the district in which the same 
shall be situated, under such regulations as shall be prescribed by the 
Commissioner of the General Land Office, and sold to the highest bidder 
for cash at a price not less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre ; 
and in case said lands fail to sell when so offered, then the same shall be 
subject to private sale at such land-office, for cash, at a price not less than 
one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, in the same manner as other 
lands of the United States are sold : Provided, That the foregoing enact- 
ments shall not apply to any State or Territory which has not had a grant 
of salines by act of Congress, nor to any State which may have had such 
a grant, until either the grant has been fully satisfied, or the right of 
selection thereunder has expired by efflux of time. But nothing in this 
act shall authorize the sale or conveyance of any title other than such as 
the United States has, and the patents issued shall be in the form of a 
release and quit-claim of all title of the United States in such lands. 

Sec. 2. That all executive proclamations relating to the sales of public 
lands shall be published in only one newspaper, the same to be printed 
and published in the State or Territory where the lands are situated, and 
to be designated by the Secretary of the Interior. 

Approved January 12, 1877. (19 Stat., 221.) 

[No. 20.] 

AN ACT to provide for the sale of desert lands in certain States and Territories. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and Mouse of Representatives of the United 
Sfxxtes of America in Congress assembled. That it shall be la^vful for any 
citizen of the United States, or any person of requisite age "who may be 
entitled to become a; citizen, and who has filed his declaration to become 
such," and upon payment of twenty-five cents per acre, to file a declara- 
tion, under oath, with the register and the receiver of the land-district in 
which any desert land is situated, that he intends to reclaim a tract of des- 
ert land, not exceeding one section, by conducting water upon the same 
within the period of three years thereafter : Provided, hoivever. That the 
right to the use of water by the person so conducting the same on or to 
any tract of desert land of six hundred and forty acres shall depend upon 
bona fide prior appropriation; and such right shall not exceed the amount 
of water actually appropriated and necessarily used for the purpose of 



73 

irrigation and reclamation ; and all surplus water over and above such 
actual appropriation and use, together with the water of all lakes, rivers^ 
and other sources of water supply upon the public lands, and not naviga- 
ble, shall remain and be held free for the appropriation and use of the 
public for irrigation, mining, and manufacturing purposes subject to exist- 
ing rights. Said declaration shall describe particularly said section of land 
if surveyed, and if unsurveyed shall describe the same as nearly as possible 
without a survey. At any time within the period of three years after 
filing said declaration, upon making satisfactory proof to the register and 
receiver of the reclamation of said tract of land in the manner aforesaid, 
and upon the payment to the receiver of the additional sum of one dollar 
per acre for a tract of land not exceeding six hundred and forty acres to- 
any one person, a patent for the same shall be issued to him : Provided^ 
That no person shall be permitted to enter more than one tract of land, 
and not to exceed six hundred and forty acres, which shall be in compact 
form. 

Sec. 2. That all lands exclusive of timber lands and mineral lands- 
which will not, without irrigation, produce some agricultural crop, shall 
be deemed desert lands within the meaning of this act, which fact shall be 
ascertained by proof of two or more credible witnesses under oath, whose 
affidavits shall be filed in the land-office in which said tract of land may 
be situated. 

Sec. 3. That this act shall only apply to and take effect in the States- 
of California, Oregon, and Nevada, and the territories of Washington, 
Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, and Dakota,, 
and the determination of what may be considered desert land shall be sub- 
ject to the decision and regulation of the Commissioner of the General 
Land Office. 

Approved March 3, 1877. (19 Stat., 377.) 

[No. 21.] 

AN ACT for the relief of certain settlers on the public lands, and to provide for the repayment 
of certain fees, purchase money, and commissions paid on void entries of public lauds. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases where it shall,. 
upon due proof being made, appear to the satisfaction of the Secretary of 
the Interior that innocent parties have paid the fees and commissions and 
excess payments required upon the location of claims under the act entitled 
"An act to amend an act entitled ^An act to enable honorably discharged 
soldiers and sailors, their widows and orphan children, to acquire home- 
steads on the public lands of the United States,' and amendments thereto,'^ 
approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, and nov/ in- 
corporated in section twenty-three hundred and six of the Revised Statutes 
of the United States, which said claims were, after such location, found to 
be fraudulent and void, and the entries or locations made thereon canceled, 
the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to repay to such innocent p^irties 
the fees and commissions, and excess payments paid by them, upon the 
surrender of the receipts issued therefor by the receivers of public moneys, 
out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and shall be 
payable out of the appropriation to refund purchase money on lands erro- 
neously sold by the United States. 



74 

Sec. 2. In all cases where homestead or timber-culture or desert-land 
entries or other entries of public lands have heretofore or shall hereafter be 
canceled for conflict, or where, from any cause, the entry has been erroneously 
-allowed and cannot be confirmed, the Secretary of the Interior shall cause 
to be repaid to the person who made such entry, or to his heirs or assigns, 
the fees and commissions, amount of purchase money, and excess paid upon 
the same upon the surrender of the duplicate receipt and the execution of 
a proper relinquishment of all claims to said land, whenever such entry 
shall have been duly canceled by the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office, and in all cases where parties have paid double-minimum price for 
land which has afterwards been found not to be within the limits of a rail- 
road land grant, the excess of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre shall 
in like manner be repaid to the purchaser thereof, or to the heirs or assigns. 

Sec. 3. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to make the payments 
herein provided for, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appro- 
priated. 

Sec. 4. The Commissioner of the General Laud Office shall make all 
necessary rules, and issue all necessary instructions, to carry the provisions 
■of this act into effect; and for the repayment of the purchase money and 
fees herein provided for the Secretary of the Interior shall draw his warrant 
•on the Treasury and the same shall be paid without regard to the date of 
the cancellation of the entries. 

Approved June 16, 1880. (21 Stat., 287.) 

[No. 22.] 

AN ACT in relation to certain fees allowed registers and receivers. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That the fees allowed registers and 
receivers for testimony reduced by them to writing for claimants, in estab- 
lishing pre-emption and homestead rights and mineral entries, and in con- 
tested cases, shall not be considered or taken into account in determining 
the maximum of compensation of said officers. 

Sec. 2. That registers and receivers shall, upon application, furnish plats 
or diagrams of townships in their respective districts showing what lands 
are vacant and what lands are taken, and shall be allowed to receive com- 
pensation therefor from the party obtaining said plat or diagram at such 
rates as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office ; 
and said officers shall, upon application by the proper State or Territorial 
authorities, furnish, for the purpose of taxation, a list of all lands sold in 
their respective districts, together with the names of the purchasers, and 
shall be allowed to receive compensation for the same not to exceed ten 
cents per entry ; and the sums thus received for plats and lists shall not be 
■considered or taken into account in determining the maximum of compen- 
sation of said officers. 

Approved March 3, 1883. (22 Stat., 484.) 



75 



SUSPENDED ENTRIES. 



Rules and Regulations. 

Under the act of Congress approved August 3, 1846, entitled "An act 
providing for the adjustment of all suspended pre-emption land claims in 
the several States and Territories," the following general equitable rulas 
and regulations were established for the government of the Commissioner 
of the General Land Office. 

The Commissioner will recognize as valid, and place in the first class, 
suspended entries of the following description : 

1st. All pre-emption entries in which one or more legal requirements do 
not appear in the papers because of the neglect or inattention of the land 
officers, butvvhere the existing testimony shows a substantial and bona fide 
settlement and improvement of the lands; or where such facts were satis- 
factorily shown to the local officers, by proof which was lost in transmission 
to the General Land Office, and cannot now be renewed by reason of the 
death of witnesses, or other cause. 

2d. All pre-emption entries under the Acts of 1 2th April, 1814, 29th 
May, 1830, 5th April, 1832, 19th June, 1834, 22d June, 1838, and 1st 
of June, 1840, which have been allowed in the name of assignees, instead 
of the pre-emptors themselves, where the claim is bona fide, and the assignees 
or subsequent purchasers are in possession. 

3d. All entries in virtue of "floats," under the Acts of 29th of May, 
1830, and 19th June, 1834, where the original settlement (from which the 
^^ float" was derived) was bona fide, and had been actually entered, but 
where such original settlement was on land reserved for private claims the 
survey of which had not been returned at the time of entry; and also all 
entries by such "floats" on land liable to sale, where the "float" entries 
had been made prior to the return of the official plat of survey for the 
original settlement. 

4th. Entries allowed by pre-emption on "sketch maps" (obtained by 
the parties), before the return of the regular approved plat of the township 
embracing the land. 

5th. All entries allowed by pre-emption on land which was reserved at 
the date of the Pre-emption Act, but Avhich was released from reservation 
before the expiration of said act, where such entries are in other respects 
regular. 

6th. Pre-emption entries under laws requiring actual residence on public 
land, in which the residence was found to be on private property, but where 
the tract entered formed a substantial part of the farm of the claimant, and 
was improved and cultivated by him at the period required for residence. 

7th. Pre-emption entries of legal subdivisions of a fractional section 
which contain more than one hundred and sixty acres, but which are as 
near that quantity as the existing subdivisions will allow. 

8th. Pre-emption entries allowed under one pre-emption law, where it 
shall have been discovered that said entries are invalid under that act, but 
where the settlement and improvement is of a character to have entitled the 
parties to a legal and valid claim under a subsequent law, provided the 
land is not embraced by the valid claim of another. 



76 

9th. Pre-emption entries in the mineral region, embracing the half of a 
quarter-section reserved for mineral purposes, where the half-quarter so 
entered is shown not to have contained mineral; and also entries as " floats/' 
allowed to the claimants, who, by reason of one portion of the quarter- 
section on which they were settled containing mineral, were unable to enter 
more than the half of said quarter-section, provided the claim is otherwise 
a bona fide one. 

10th. Pre-emption entries founded upon a bona fide right o? pre-emption^ 
where, as it respects the mode and manner of the entry, there is not a strict 
conformity with the law, biit where such entry does not embrace a quantity 
exceeding that allowed by law, is in accordance with the wish of the party or 
parties interested, and does not interfere with the rights or interests of another. 

11th. All private sales of tracts which have not been previously offered 
at public sale, but where the entry appears to have been permitted by the 
land officers under the impression that the land was liable to private entry, 
and there is no reason to presume fraud, or to believe that the purchase 
was made otherwise than in good faith. 

12th. All sales made at one land office of lands which were only liable 
to sale at another, where the proceedings in all other respects were regular. 

13th. All bona fide entries on lands which had been only offered, but 
afterwards temporarily withdrawn from market, and then released from 
reservation, where such lands are not rightfully claimed by others. 

14th. All bona fide entries at private sale, allowed at Mineral Pointy 
Wisconsin, and fully paid for, of lands which were not ascertained or 
reported to contain lead mineral until after the date of said entries, where 
the land is not rightfully claimed by another. 

The foregoing regulations are not to embrace any case where the entry has 
been canceled or desired by the party, or where a subsequent entry of the same 
land has been legally made by the claimant himself, or by another person. 

JAMES L. PIPER, 

Acting Commissioner of the General Land Office, 

We concur in these rules and regulations, October 3, 1846. 



„, „. 

E. J. WALKER, 

Secretary of the Treasury, 
J. Y. MASON, 

Attorney- General, 



Under the same act of Congress, approved 3d of August, 1846, entitled 
^'An act providing for the adjustment of all suspended pre-emption land 
claims in the several States and Territories," the following additional rule 
was established for the government of the Commissioner of the General 
Land Office: 

15th. Where an entry has been improperly allowed by the district laud 
officers, upon evidence deemed by them satisfactory, of the right of the 
party claiming, and upon the faith of the official certificate of entry issued 
by the register such entry has passed into the hands of a bona fide pur- 
chaser, a patent shall be issued to such assignee, notwithstanding the sub- 
sequent discovery of the improper or irregular allowance to the original 
claimant provided the land embraced by such entry is not rightfully 
claimed by another, and such assignee was, at the time of his purchase. 



77 

ignorant of the irregular or improper allowance, and in all cases of entries 
of lauds in the Territory of Wisconsin upon which no lead mines or 
diggings were known to exist at the time of such entries. 

RICHARD M. YOUNG, 

Commissioner of the General Land Office. 
We concur in the above rule, No. 15, March 13, 1847. 

NATHAN CLIFFORD, 

Attorney- General. 
R. J. WALKER, 

Secretary of the Treasury. 

Under the act of Congress, approved 3d of March, 1853, reviving and 
continuing in force the act of 3d of August, 1846, the following rule was 
established for the government of the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office: 

16th. That all locations under the act of 14th August, 1848, entitled 
"An act in relation to military land warrants," be confirmed, and patents 
issued thereon, where the land located lies in one body, and the only objec- 
tion to the location is, that it consists, technically, of more than one legal 
subdivision. 

JOHN WILSON, 

Commissioner. 

We concur in this rule, 16th March, 1854. 

R. MCCLELLAND, 

Secretary of the Interior. 
C. CUSHING, 

Attorney- General. 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 
Geneeal Land Office, 

Washington, D. C, April 25, 1877. 

Sir : I have the honor to submit herewith, for your concurrence and 
that of the Honorable Attorney-General, a set of rules to govern me in 
submitting for confirmation, under section 2450 of the Revised Statutes of 
the United States, entries suspended for various causes, but which, upon 
principles of equity and justice, should be confirmed. 

Authority to confirm suspended entries of the public lands was first 
vested in the Secretary of the Treasury, Attorney-General, and Commis- 
sioner of the General Land Office, by act of Congress of August 3, 1846, 
and revised and extended by acts of 3d of March, 1853, and 26th of 
June, 1856. 

Under these acts, from time to time, sixteen rules have been established, 
the last March 16, 1854. (See 1 Lester, Land Laws, p. 482, title 5.) 

Since then the different homestead acts have been passed, and new classes 
of suspended entries under the pre-emption laws have arisen. I have 
prepared eleven new rules, from No. 17 to 27, inclusive. I find that many 
of the old established rules are obsolete. 

^ :J; ;*c 5(i :4c Hi :}c 

Cases in each of the classes mentioned, except class 22, have been con- 
firmed under section 2450 of the Revised Statutes. 



78 

It is believed that these classes will cover all agricultural entries falling 
under general rules. 

Special cases not covered by these rules, in which equitable relief should 
be afforded, will probably arise. Such cases will be submitted as special, 
with letters of explanation. 

I respectfully request that, if you should approve the accompanying 
rules, you will submit them to the Honorable Attorney-General for his 
concurrence. 

J. A. WILLIAMSON, 

Commissioner. 
Hon. Carl Schurz, 

Secretary of the Interior. 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 

Office of the Secretary, 

Washington, D. C, May 18, 1877. 
Sir : I return herewith, approved by the Attorney-General and myself, 
the additional rules transmitted with your letter of the 25th ultimo, num- 
bered from 17 to 27, inclusive, to govern your office in the disposal of 
suspended entries of public lands under various laws. 

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

C. SCHURZ, 

Secretary. 
Hon. J. A. Williamson, 

Commissioner General Land Office. 



Additional Rules. 

Under section 2450 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, the 
following rules, additional to those established under the act of August 3, 
1846, are provided for the government of the Commissioner of the General 
Land Office : 

17. All entries where the pre-emption affidavit was taken before lui 
officer authorized to administer oaths, when, on account of bodily infirmity, 
the party cannot appear at the local office. 

18. All entries where the pre-emption affidavit was taken before some 
officer other than the register or receiver, and the pre-emptor died before 
the defect could be cured. 

19. All entries made upon land appropriated by entry or selection, but 
which entry or selection was subsequently canceled for illegality. 

20. Pre-emption entries in which the party has shown good faith, but 
did not, through ignorance of the law, declare his intention to become a, 
citizen of the United States until after he made his entry. 

21. All entries based upon pre-emption proof where the party had failed 
to file a declaratory statement therefor, provided no adverse claim attached 
prior to entry. 

22. All entries of unoffered land, kised upon a second declaratory state- 
ment, where the same was filed between June 22, 1874, and June 30, 1875^ 



79 

23. All pre-emption entries in which the affidavit is defective in not 
showing that the party was not the owner of 320 acres of land in any- 
State or Territory, and had never had the benefit of the act, the form for 
which affidavit was furnished by the local land office. 

24. All homestead entries in which, by reason of ignorance of the law, 
sickness of the party or his family, the final proof was not made within 
the period prescribed by statute, but in other respects the law has been 
complied with. 

25. All homestead entries in which the party failed to settle on the land 
within the time required by law by reason of physical disability, and where- 
good faith is shown. 

26. All homestead entries by mistake made in the name of the wrong 
party, but where on final proof the error may be corrected without preju- 
dice to another's right. 

27. In all homestead entries where the husband has deserted his wife 
and children, if he have any, who have in good faith complied with the 
homestead law by residence upon and cultivation of the land, and final 
proof shall be made by the wife, or, in case of her death, by her heirs or 
their legal guardians, such entry shall be confirmed, and patent shall issue 
to the parties entitled thereto. 

J. A. WILLIAMSOJS^, 
Commissioner General Land Office^ 

We concur in the above Rules, May 8, 1877. 

C. SCHURZ, 

Secretary of the Interior^ 

CHAS. DEVENS, 

Attorney- GeneraL 



form:s. 



[No. 4-001.] 
CASH APPLICATION. 



No. . Land Office at , 

{Date) , 18—. 

I, -; ; — , of county, , do hereby apply to purchase the of section 

, in township , of range , containing acres, according to the returns of the 

surveyor general, for which I have agreed with the register to give at the raie of per 



aci-e 



I; ; , register of the Land Office at , do hereby certify that the lot above 

described contains acres, as mentioned above, and that the price agreed upon is 

per acre. 



-, Register. 



[No. 4-13L] 
CASH RECEIPT. 

No. . Eeoeiver's Office at , 

{Date) , 18—. 

Received from , of county, , the sum of dollars and 

cents; being in full for the quarter of section No. , in township No. , of range 

No. , containing acres and hundredths, at % per acre. 

, Receiver. 



1 No. 4-189.] 
CASH CERTIFICATE. 

No. . Land Office at , 

{Date) , 18- 

It is hereby certified that, in pursuance of law, , of county, State of - 

on this day purchased of the register of this office the lot or of section No. 



township No. , of range No. , containing acres, at the rate of dollai's and 

cents per acre, amounting to dollars and cents, for which the said 

ha — made payment in full as required by law. 

Now, therefore, he it Icnown, that on presentation of this certificate to the Commissioner of 

the General Land Office, the said shall be entitled to receive a patent for the 

lot above described. 

, Register. 



[No. 4-536.] 
PRE-EMPTION RECEIPT AND CERTIFICATE. 

% Laxd Office at , 

{Date) , 18—. 

Mr. has this day paid dollars, the register's and receiver's fees, to file 

a declaratory statement, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged. 

, Receiver. 

No. . 



Mr. , having paid the fees, has this day filed in this office his declaratory 

statement. No. , for of section , in township , of range , containing 

acres, settled upon , 18 — , being offered. 

, Register. 

8198—6 . 81 



82 

[No. 4-534.] 
PRE-EMPTION DECLARATORY STATEMENT FOR OFFERED LANDS. 

I, , of , being , have, fcince the Ist day of , A. D. 18 — , settled 

and improved the quarter of section No. , in township No. , of range No. - — , 

in the ciistric-t of lands subject to sule ut the land-ofEce at , and containing acres, 

which land had been rendered subject to private entry pi-ior to my settlement thereon; and I do 
hereby declare my intention to claim the said tract of land as a pre-emption right, under 
section 2259 of the Revised Statutes of the United States. 

Given under my hand this day of , A. D. 18 — . 



In presence of 



[No. 4-535.] 
PRE-EMPTION DECLARATORY STATEMENT FOR UNOFFERED LANDS. 

I, , of , being , have, on the day of , A. D. 18 — , settled 

and improved the quarter of section ^'o. , in township No. , of range No. , 

in the district of lands sabject to sale at the land-office at , and containing acres^ 

which land has not yet been offered at public sale, and thus rendered subject to private entry; 
and I do hereby declare my intention to claim the said tract of land as a pre-emption right 
under section 2259 of the Revised Statutes of the United States. 

Given under my hand this day of , A. D. 18 — . 



In presence of 



[No. 4-061.] 
AFFIDAVIT REQUIRED OF PRE-EMPTION CLAIMANT. 

claiming the right of pre-emption, under section 2259 of the Revised 



Statutes of the United States, to the of section No. , of township No. , of range 

No. , subject to sale at , do solemnly that I have never had the benefit of any 

right of pre-emption under said section ; that I am not the owner of 320 acres of land in any 
State or Territory of the United States, nor have I settled upon and improved said land to 
sell the same on speculation, but in good faith to appropriate it to my own exclusive use or 
benefit ; and that I have not, directly or indirectly, made any agreement or contract, in any 
way .or manner, with any person or persons whomsoever, by which the title which I may 
acquire from the Government of the United States should inure, in whole or in part, to the 
benefit of any person except myself. 

of the Land C-ffice at , do hereby certify that the above aflSdavit w-as 



subscribed and sworn to before me this day of , A. D. 18- 



[No. 4-374a.l 

PRE-EMPTION PROOF.— TESTIMONY OF CLAIMANT. 

being called as a witness iu own behalf in support of preemption 



claim to the , testifies as follows 

Ques. 1. What is your name (written in full and correctly spelled) and age? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 2. Are you the head of a family (if so, of whom does it consist), or a single person? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 3. Are you a native-born or natxu\alized citizen of the United States?* 

Ans. . 

Ques. 4. Is your pre-emption claim, above <lescribed, within the limits of an incorporated 
town, or selected site of a city or town, or used in any way for trade and business? 2d. Did 
you leave other land of your own to settle on your present claim? 3d. Have you ever made 
a pre-emption filing or entry for land other than that you now seek to enter? If so, describe 
the same. (Answer to the point and in detail.) 

Ans. 1st, ; 2d, ; 3d, . 

*Tn case tho party is of foreign birth, a copy of Iiis declaration of intention to become a citizen, or full nat- 
uralization cortificatc, officially certified, must bo filed witii the oaae. 



83 

Ques. 5. When did jou first make settlement on the above-described land? 2d. What was 
your first act of settlement? 3d. Were there any improvements on the land when you 
settled? If so, state who then owned them and whether you purchased the same. 4th. 
What improvements have you made on the land since settlement^ nnd what is the value of 
same? 

Ans. 1st, ; _ 2d, ; 3d, ; 4th, . 

Ques. 6, When did you first establish an actual residence on the land you now seek to 
eater? 2d. Has your residence thereon since been continuous? 3d. What use have you 
made of the land? 4th. How much of the land, if any, have you broken and cultivated 
since settlement, and what kind and quantity of crops have you raised? 

Ans. 1st, -; 2d, ; 3d, ; 4th, . 

Ques, 7. Are either of the parties who have testified as your witnesses in this case related 
to you by blood or marriage? If so, state how related. 

Ans. . 



I hereby certify that each question and answer in the foregoing testimony was read to 
claimant before being subscribed, and was sworn to before me this day of r, 1H8 — . 



PRE-EMPTION PROOF.— TESTIMONY OF WITNESS. 

(The testimony of two witnesses, in this form, taken sepai'ately, required in each case.) 

, being called as a witness in support of the pre-emption claim of to 



the , testifies as follows : 

Ques. 1. What is your post-office address? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 2. How long have you known claimant, and what is age? 

Ans. . 

Qites. 3. Is claimant married or single? 2d. Of whom does family (if any) consist? 

3d. Is a native or naturalized citizen? 

Ans. 1st, ; 2d, ; 3d, . 

Ques. 4. Are you familiar with the character of the land? 2d. Are there any indications 
of coal, minerals, or salines thereon ? (If so state plainly the nature. ) 3d. Is it more valuable 
for agricultural than mining purposes ? 4th. Do you reside in its vicinity ? 5th. Is it within 
the limits of an incorporated town, or selected town site, or used, in any way, for purposes 
of trade or business? (Answer to the point and in detail.) 

Ans. 1st, ; 2d, : 3d, ; 4th, ; 5th, . 

Ques. 5. Is claimant the owner of 320 acres in this or any other State or Territory? 2d. 

Did leave or abandon a residence on own land in this to reside on the land 

herein described? 3d. Has ■ ever filed for or entered other land under the pre-emption 

law? 4th. Has mortgaged or agreed to sell the land herein described? 

Ans. 1st, ; 2d, : ; 3d, ; 4th, . 

Ques. 6. When did claimant first settle on claim? 2d. What was first act of 

settlement? 3d. What improvements has on the land? 4th. What is the value of such 

improven)ents? 5th. When did commence residence thereon? 6th. Has 

residence been continuous? 7th. What use has made of the land? 8th. How much 

land has broken and cultivated? (Answer to the point and iu detail.) 

Ans. 1st, ; 2d, ; 3d, ; 4th, % ; 5th, ; 6th, ; 7th, 

; 8th, acres. 

Ques. 7. Are you in any way interested in this claim, or, by blood or marriage, related to 
claimant? 

Ans. . 



I hereby certify that witness is a person of respectability; that the foregoing testimony 

was read to before being subscribed, and was sworn to before me this day of , 

188—. 



Note.— The ofBcer before whom the testimony is taken should call the attention of the witness to section 
6392 of the Eevised Statutes (hereinbefore printed, page CO), and state to !iim that it is tlie purpose of the 
Government, if it be ascertained that he testifies falsely, to prosecute him to the full extent of the law. 



84 

[No. 4-007.] 
HOMESTEAD APPLICATION. 



Land Office at 



Application No. . {Date) , 18—. 

I, , of , do hereby apply to enter, under section 2289 of the Kevised 

Statutes of the United States, the of section , in township , of range , 

containing acres. 



Land Office at 



{Date) , 18—. 

I, , register of the Land Office, do hereby certify that the above application is 

for sur\7^eyed lands of the class which the applicant is legally entitled to enter under section 
2289 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and that there is no prior valid adverse 



right to the same. 



-, Register. 



[No. 4-083.] 



HOMESTEAD AFFIDAVIT. 



Land Office at 



{Date) , 18—. 

I, , of , having filed my application No. , for an entry under section 

2289 of, the Revised Statutes of the United States, do solemnly swear that [/te?'e state whether 
the applicant is the head of a family, or over twenty-one years of age; whether a citizen of tJie 
United States, or has filed his declaration of intention of becoming such; or, if under twenty-one 
years of age, that he has served not less than fourteen days in the Army or Navy of the United 

States during actual war ; that said application, No. , is made for his or her exclusive 

benefit ; and that said entry is made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and 
not, directly or indirectly, for the use or benefit of any other pjer son or persons whomsoever'}, and 
that I have not heretofore had the benefit of said section 2289. 



Sworn to and subscribed this day of , before 



Register [or Receiver'}. 



[No. 4-137.] 

Receivers receipt. No. . Application No. . 

HOMESTEAD RECEIPT. 

Receiver's Office, . 

{Date) , 18—. 

Received from , of county, , the sum of dollars and cents^ 

being the amount of fee and compensation of register and receiver for the entry of of 

section , in township , of range , under section , Revised Statutes of the 

United States. 

, Receiver. 



[No. 4-348.] 

HOMESITE AD NOTICE OF INTENTION TO MAKE FINAL PROOF. 

Land Office at , 

{Date) 



I, , of , who made homestead application No. (or pre-emption 

declaratory statement No. ), for the , do hereby give notice of my intention 

to make final proof to establish my claim to the land above described, and that I expect to 

prove my residence and cultivation before , at , on , 18 — , by 

two of the following witnesses : 

, of . 

, oi . 

, of . _ , 

, (if . {Signature of claimant.) 



85 



Land Offick at 



{Date) , 18—. 

Notice of the above application will be published in the , printed at -, which I 

hereby designate as the newspaper published nearest the land described in said application. 

— I , Ilcgister. 

Notice to claimant. — Give time and place of proving up, and name and title of tho officer before whom 
proof is to be made; also, give names and pust-officc addresses of four neighbors, two of whom must appear as 
your witnesses. 



[No. 4-347.] 

HOMESTEAD NOTICE FOR PUBLICATION. 

Land Office at 



-, 18-. 



Notice is hereby given that has filed notice of intention to make final proof 

before , at , on , 18 — , on homestead application No. (or 

pre-emption declaratory statement No. ), for the — . 

He names as witnesses , of , and , of - 



— , Register. 

Note. — This notice must also be posted in a conspicuous place in the Land Office for a period of thirty days 
prior to date of final proof. 



HOMESTEAD CONSOLIDATED NOTICE FOR PUBLICATION. 

Land Office at 



-, 18- 



Notice is hereby given that the following named settlers have filed notice of intention to 
make final proof on their respective claims before , at , on — , 

18—, viz : 

, on homestead application No. , for the . 



Witnesses : , of , and , of . 

, ou pre-emption declaratory statement No. , for the 



Witnesses : , of , and , of . 

, Register. 



[No. 4-227.] 

HOMESTEAD.— CERTIFICATE AS TO TBE POSTING OF NOTICE. 

Land Office at 



{Date) ,18—. 

I, , register, do hereby certify that a notice, a printed copy of which is 

hereto attached, was by rrie posted in a conspicuous place in my office lor a period of thirty 

days, I having first posted said notice on the day of , 18 — . 

, Register. 

[No. 4-070.] 

HOMESTEAD PROOF.— FINAL AFFIDAVIT. 

I, . having made a homestead entry of the section No. , in town- 
ship No. , of range ISo, , subject to entry at , under section 2289 of the Revised 

Statutes of the United States, do now apply to perfect my claim thereto by virtue of section 

2291 of the Revised Statutes of the United States; and for that purpose do solemnly— 

that I am a citizen of the United States ; that I have made actual settlement upon and have 

cultivated said land, having resided thereon since the day of , 18 — , to the present 

time; that no part of said land has been alienated, except as provided in section 2283 of the 
Revised Statutes, but that I am the sole bona fide owner as an actual settler; that I will bear 
true allegiance to the Government of the United States; and further, that I have not hereto- 
fore perfected or abandoned an entry made under the homestead laws of the United States. 



I, , of the Land OflSce at , do hereby certify that the above afiidavit was 

subscribed and sworn to before me this day of , 18 — . 



86 

[No.' 4-369.] 
(This form will be used both in final homestead proof and commutation proof.) 

HOMESTEAD PEOOF.— TESTIMONY OF CLAIMANT. 

, being called as a witness in own behalf in support of home- 
stead entry for , testifies as follows : 

Ques. 1. What is your name, written in full, and correctly spelled; your age, and post- 
office address ? 

Ans. , 

Ques. 2. Are you a native of the United States, or have you been naturalized ? (See note.) 

Ans. . 

Ques. 3. When was your house built on the land, and when did you establish actual resi- 
dence thereon ? (Describe said house and other improvements which you have placed on the 
land, giving total value thereof.) 

Ans. . 

Ques. 4. Of whom does your family consist, and have you and your family resided con- 
tinuously on the land since first establishing residence thereon ? (If unmarried, state the 
fact.) 

Ans. . 

Ques. 5. For what period or periods have you been absent from the homestead since mak- 
ing settlement, and for what purpose ; and, if temporarily absent, did your family reside 
upon and cultivate the land during such absence ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 6. How much of the land have you cultivated, and for how many seasons have you 
raised crops thereon ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 7. Are there any indications of coal, salines, or minerals of any kind on the land? 
(If so, describe what they are, and state whether the land is more valuable for agricultural 
than for mineral purposes.) 

Ans. . 

Ques. 8. Have you ever made any other homestead entry? (If so, describe the same.) 

Ans. . 

Ques. 9. Have you sold, conveyed, or mortgaged any portion of the laud; and if so, to 
whom, and for what purpose? 

Ans. . 



I hereby certify that the foregoing testimony was read to the claimant before being sub- 
scribed, and was sworn to before me this day of , 18 — . 



Note. — If naturalized, the claimant must file a certified copy of his certificate of naturalization. In a com- 
muted homestead, a foreign-born claimant must file a certified copy of his declaration of intention. In making 
proof the party must surrender his original duplicate receipt or file affidavit of its loss. 



[The testimony of two witnesses, in this form, taken separately, required in each case. This form will be 
used both in final homestead proof and commutation proof.] 

HOMESTEAD PROOF.— TESTIMONY OF WITNESS. 

-, being called as a witness in support of the homestead entry of 



for , testifies as follows 



Ques. 1. What is your occupation, and where is your residence ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 2. Have you been well acquainted with , the claimant in this case, 

ever since he made his homestead entry No. ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 3. Was claimant qualified to make said entry? (State whether the settler was a 
citizen of the United States ; over the age of twenty-one years, or the head of a family, and 
whether he ever made a former homestead entry.) 

Ans. . 

Ques. 4. When did claimant settle upon the homestead, and at what date did he establish 
actual residence thereon ? (Describe the dwelling and other improvements, giving total value 
thereof ) 

Ans. . 

Ques. 5. Have claimant and family resided continuously on the homestead since Hi-st estab- 
lishing residence thereon ? (If settler is unmai'ried, state the fact.) 

Ans. *. 



87 

Ques. 6. For what period or periods has the settler been absent from the land since making 
settlement, and for what purpose; and if temporarily absent, did claimant's family reside 
upon and coltiv^ate the land during such absence? 

Ans, . 

Ques. 7. How much of the homestead has the settler cultivated, and for how many seasons 
did he raise crops thereon ? ' 

Ans. ^ — . 

Ques. H. Are there any indications of coal, salines, or minerals of any kind on the home- 
stead? (If so describe what they are, and state whether the land is more valuable for agri- 
cultural than for mineral purposes. ) 

Ans. . 

Ques. 9. Has the claimant mortgaged, sold, or contracted to sell any portion of said home- 
stead? 

Ans. , 

Ques. 10. Are you interested in this claim, and do you think the settler has acted in entire 
good faith in perfecting this entry I 

Ans, . 



I hereby certify that the witness is a person of respectability; that the foregoing testimony 

■was read to him before being subscribed, and was sworn to before me this day of , 

18—. 



Note. — The officer before whom the testimony is taken should cajl the attention of the witness to section 
^392 of the Revised Statutes (hereinbefore printed, page GO), and state to him that it is the purpose of the 
<3overnment, if it be ascertained that he testified falsely, to prosecAte him to the full extent of the law. 



[No. 4-140.] 
Receiver's Final Receipt, No. . Application No. 

HOMESTEAD FINAL RECEIPT. 

Receiver's Office- 



{Date) , 18—. 

Received from , of county, , the sum of dollars and cents, 

being the balance of payment required by law for the entry of the of section , in 

township , of range , containing acres, under section of the Revised Statutes 

of the United States. 



Receiver. 



[No. 4-196.] 

Final Certificate No. . - Application No. . 

HOMESTEAD FINAL CERTIFICATE. 

Land Office at , 

{Dat^.) , 18—. 

It is hereby certified, pursuant to section 2291, Revised Statutes of the United States, that 



of county, , has made payment in full for of section No. 



in township No. , of range No. , containing acres. 

Now, therefore, be it known, that on presentation of this certificate to the Commissoner of 
the General Land Office, the said shall be entitled to a patent for the tract of 



land above described. 



Uegister. 



[No. 4-069.] 



[To be used in cases of commuted homestead entries. For taking the testimony of claimant and his witnesses 
in making commutation proof, use the prescribed forms for "Homestead Proof."] 

COMMUTED HOMESrEAD AFFIDAVIT. ' 

. , .[Section 2301 of the Revised Statutes of the United States.] 

I , claiming: the ri^ht to commute, under section 2,301 of the Revised Statutes 



of the United States, my homestead entry. No. , made upon the section , town- 

.gl^ip ^ range . do solemidy swear that I made settlement upon saitl land on the 

day of , 18—, and that since such date, to wit: on the day of-^ — , 18, I have built 



88 

a house on said land, and have continued to reside therein up to the present time; that I have 

broken and cultivated acres of said land, and that no part of said land has been alienated, 

except as provided in section 2283 of the Kevised Statutes, but that I am the sole bona fide 
owner as an actual settler. 

I further swear that I have not heretofore perfected or abandoned an entry made under the 
homestead laws of the United States. 



Land Office, 
Subscribed and sworn to before me this day of . 



-, Register^ 



[No. 4-066.] 

ADJOINING FARM HOMESTEAD AFFIDAVIT. 

Land Office at , 

{Date) , 18 . 

I, , of , .having filed my application No. — for an entry under the provision* 

of the act of Congress approved May 20, 1862, entitled *' An Act to secure homesteads to actual 

settlers on the public domain," do solenlnly swear that \_here state whether 

the applicant is the head of a family, or over twenty-one years of age; whether a citizen of 
the United States, or has filed his declaration of intention of becoming such, or if under twenty- 
one years of age, that he has served not less than fourteen days in the Army or Navy of tJie 
United States during actual tear} ; that said entry is made for my exclusive benefit, and not 
directly or indirectly for the benefit or use of any other person or persons whomsoever; 
neither have I heretofore perfected or abandoned an entry made under this act; that the land 

embraced in said application No. is intended for an adjoining farm homestead ; that I 

now own and reside upon an original farm containing acres, and no more; that the same 

comprises the of section , township , range , and is contiguous to the tract 

this day applied for. 

Sworn to and subscribed this day of , before 

of the Land Office, 



[No. 4-067.] 

ADJOINING FARM HOMESTEAD FINAL AFFIDAVIT. 

[Section 2291, Eevised Statutes.] 

I, — , having made a homestead entry of the section No. , in township 

No. , of range No. -, subject to entry at , for the use of an adjoining farm owned 

and occupied by me on the of section No. , in township No. of range No. , 

under section 2289 of the Revised Statutes, do now apply to perfect my claim thereto by virtue 

of section 2291 of the same, and for that purpose do solemnly that I am a citizen of the 

United States; that I have continued to own and occupy the land constituting my original 

farm, having resided thereon since the day of , 18 — , to the present time, and have 

made use of the said entered tract as a part of my homestead, and have improved the same in 

the following manner, viz : . That no part of said land has been alienated, but that I am 

the sole bona fide owner as an actual settler; that I will bear true allegiance to the Govern- 
ment of the United States; and, further, that I have not heretofore perfected or abandoned 
an entry under the homestead laws. 

I, , of the land office at , do hereby certify that the above affidavit was 

taken and subscribed before me this day of , 18 — . 



[No. 4-071. ] 

[To be used in making final proof in cases where pre-emption filings have been changed to homestead entries 

under the acts of March 3, 1877, and Blay 27, 1S78.] 

PRE-EMPTION HOMESTEAD AFFIDAVIT. 

I, , having changed my pre-emption declaratoi'y statement No. , filed the 

day of , 18 — , alleging settlement the day of , 18 — , for the section No. 



^ 89 

, in township No. , of range No, , to homestead entry original No. , district 

of lands subject to entry at , under the acts of Congress approved March 3, 1877, and 

May 27, 1878, do solemnly swear that I have never had the benefit of any right of pre-emp- 
tion under section 2259 of the Kevised Statutes of the United States; that I have not here- 
tofore filed a pre-emption declaratory statement for anotber tract of land; that I was not the- 
owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land in any State or Territory of the United 
States at anytime during the above-mentioned period of settlement under the pre-emption 
statutes; that I did not remove from my own land within the State of to make the set- 
tlement above referred to; nor have I settled upon and improved said land to sell the same 
on speculation, but in good faith to appropriate it to my exclusive use or benefit; and that I 
did not, dui-ing the period of pre-emption settlement above mentioned, directly or indirectly, 
make any agreement or contract, in any way or manner, with any person or persons what- 
soever, by which the title which I might acquire from the Government of the United States- 
would inure, in whole or in part, to the benefit of any person except myself. 



I, ; — , of the land office at , do hereby certify that the above affidavit was- 

subscribed and sworn to before me this day of , 18 — . 



[No. 4-018.] 
ADDITIONAL HOMESTEAD APPLICATION. 



Application ) Land Office a 

No. . 5 (Date) 



AT , 

,18- 



I, , of , do hereby apply to enter, under the act of March 3, 1879, the 

of section , in township , of range , containing acres, as additional to- 



my entry No. , for the of , section , in township , of range 

Land Office at 



(Date) , 18—. 

I, , register of the land office, do hereby certify that the above application is 

for surveyed lands of the class which the applicant is legally entitled to enter under the act of 
March 3, 1879, and that there is no prior valid adverse right to the same. 

Register. 



[No. 4-086.] 
ADDITIONAL HOMESTEAD AFFIDAVIT. 

Land Oi^FicE at , 

(Date) , 18—. 

Ij , of , having filed my application No. for an entry under the act 

of March 3, 1879, do solemnly swear that Inhere state ivliether the applicant is the head of a 
family, or over tiuenty-one years of age; whether a citizen of the United Statrs, or has filed his^ 
declaration of intention of becoming such; or, if under twenty- one years of age, that he has 
served not less than fourteen days in the Army or Navy of the United States during actual warl; 

that said application No. is made for my exclusive benefit; and that said entry is made 

for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not, directly or indirectly, for the 
use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever, and that I have not heretofore 
had the benefit of said act. 



Sworn to and subscribed this day of , before 



Begister [^or Receiver']. 



[No. 4-.^46.] 
SOLDIER'S DECLARATORY STATEMENT. 



No. 



I , of county and State or Territory of — — , do solemnly swear 

that I served for a period of in the Army of the United States during the war 



90 

of the rebellion, and was honorably discharged tl)erefiom, as shown by a statement of 
such service herewith, and that I have remained loyal to the GovernmpnT ; that 1 have never 
made homestead entry or filed a declaratory statement under sections 2290 and 2304 of the 

Kevised Statutes; that I have located as a homestead under said statute the , 

and hereby give notice of my intention to claim and enter said tract ; that, this location is 
made for mv exclusive use and benefit, for the purpose of my actual settlement and cultiva- 
tion, and not either directly or indirectly for the use ©r benefit of any other person. 
My present post-office address is . 



Sworn and subscribed before me this day of , 18 — , 

[seal.] 

Note. — This form may be used where tho soldier files his own declaratory statement. 



[No. 4-545.] 
SOLDIER'S DECLAEATOEY STATEJSIENT (FILED BY AN AGENT). 



No. . 

I, , of county and State or Territory of , do solemnly swear that I 

served for a period of in the Army of the United States during the war of the rebellion, 

and was honorably discharged therefrom, as shown by a statement of such service herewith, 
and that I have remained loyal to the Gove)'nment; that I have never made homestead entry 
or filed a declaratory statement under sections 2290, 2304, or 2309 of the Revised Statutes; 

that I have appointed, by power of attorney duly executed on the day of (or I do 

hereby appoint), , of county and State of . my true and lawful agnut, 

under section 2309 aforesaid, to select for me and in my name, and file my declaratory state- 
ment for a h<miestead right under the aforesaid sections; and I h«^reby give notit-e of my 
intention to claim and enter said tract under said statute; that the location herein authorized is 
made for my exclusive use and benefit, for the purpose of my actual settlement and cultivation, 
and not either directly or indirectly fcr the use and benefit of any other person; that my said 
attorney has no interest, present or prospective, in the premises, and that I have made no 
arrangement or agreement with him or any other person for any sale or attempted sale or 
relinquishment of my claim in any manner or for any consideration whatever, and that I have 
not signed this declaration in blank. 



Sworn and subscribed before me this day of , 18 — , and I certify that the fore- 
going declaration was fully filled out before being subscribed or attested. 

[Official seal.] . 

By virtue of the foregoing, and of a certain power of attorney therein named, duly executed 

on the day of , and filed herewith, I hereby select the as the homestead 

claim of % the aforesaid, and do solemnly swear that the same is filed in good 

faith for the purposes therein specified, and that I have no interest or authority in the matter, 
present or prospective, beyond the filing of the same as the true and lawful agent of the said 

, as provided by section 2309 of the Revised Statutes of the United States. 

, Agent. 

Sworn and subscribed before me this day of , 18 — . 

[Official seal.] . 

Note. — This form may be used where the declaratory statement is filed by an agent under section 2309 
Kevised Statutes. 



[No. 4-015.] 
SOLDIER'S HOMESTEAD APPLICATION. 

(Section 2:i04 of the Revised Statutes of the United States.) 

Land Office at 



(Date) . 18—. 

I^ , hereby apply to enter, under section 2304 of the Revised Statutes of the 

United States, the of section , of township , of range , containing 

acres J and for whi«h I Hied u)y soldier's declaratory statement, No. , on th^ day of 

, through , niy duly-app()iut<'d agent. 



91 

I, , register of the land office at , do herebj certify that 

filed the above application at this office on the dav of , and that he has taken the 

oath and paid the fees and commissions prescribed by law. 

, Regider. 



[No. 4-065. ] 
SOLDIER'S HOMESTEAD AFFIDAVIT. 

(Section 2304 of the Revised Statutes of the United States.) 

No. . Land Office at , 

{Date) , 18—. 

I, , of , do solemnly swear that I am a , of the age of twenty-one 

years and a citizen of the United States ; that I served for ninety days in company , 

regiment, United States volunteers; that I was mustered into the United States military 

service the day of , and was honorably discharged therefrom on the day of 

; that I have since borne true allegiance to the Government ; and that I have made my 

application. No. , to enter a tract of land under section 2304 of the Revised Statutes of 

the United States, giving homesteads to honorably-discharged soldiers and sailors, tiieir 
widows and orphan children ; that I have made said application in good faith, and that I take 
said homestead for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and for my own exclusive 
use and benefit, and for the use and benefit of no other person or persons whomsoever; and 
that I have not heretofore acquired a title to a tract of land under the homestead laws, or 
voluntarily relinquished or abandoned an entry heretofore made under said laws: so help me 
God. . 

Sworn to and subscribed before me, , register of the Land Office at , 

this day of , 18 — . 



-, Register. 



[No. 4-008.] 

SOLDIERS' ADDITIONAL HOMESTEAD APPLICATION. 

Land Office at - 



{Date) , 18—. 

I, , of county, State of , being entitled to the benefits of section 

2306 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, granting additional lands to soldiers and 

sail>rs who served in the war of the rebellion, do hereby apply to enter the of section 

, of township , of range , containing acres, as additional to my original 

homestead on the of section , of township , of range , containing acres, 

which I entered , 18 — , per homestead No. . 



Land Office at 



{Date) , 18—. 

I, , register of the land office at , do hereby certify that 

filed the above application before me for the tract of land therein described, and that he has 
paid the fee and commissions prescribed by law. 

, Register. 



[No. 4-197.] 

SOLDIERS' ADDITIONAL HOMESTEAD— REGISTER'S CERTIFICATE. 

Land Office at , 



{Date) , 18—. 

Final Certificate \ 5 Application 

No. . S ... I. ^''- • 

It is hereby certified that, pursuant to the provisions of section 2306 of the Revised Statutes 

of the United States, — has paid the fee and commissions, and made entry of the 

of section , of township , of range , containing acres, which, added 

to the quantity embraced in his original homestead No. , on which ho made his final 

proof, as per certificate No. , does not exceed 160 acres. 

Now, therefore, be it known that, on presentation of this certificate to the Commissioner of 

the General Land Office, the said shall be entitled to a patent for the tract of 

land above described. 

, Register. 



92 

[No. 4-079.] 

INDIAN HOMESTEAD AFFIDAVIT. 

I, , of , havinof filed my application No. for an entry under the 

provisiona of the ict of Congress of March 3, 1875, do solemnly swear that I am an Indian, 

formerly of the ^ tribe; that I was born in the United States; that I have abandoned my 

relations with that tribe and adopted the habits and pursuits of civilized life \_here state whther 
the applicant is tvjenty-one years of age, or the head of a family'] ; that I desire said land for 
the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not, directly or indirectly, for the use or 
benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever; and that I have not heretofore had the 
benefit of said act. 



Sworn to and subscribed before me this day of . 18 — . 



Register [o?* Beceiver~]. 



[No. 4-077.] 
INDIAN HOMESTEAD CORROBORATIVE AFFIDAVIT. 

and do solemnly swear that we are well acquainted with 



, and know that he is an Indian, formerly of the tribe; that he wat* born 

in the United States; that he has abandoned his relations with that tribe, and adopted the 
habits and pursuits of civilized life [here state that he is twenty-one years of age, or, if not, theU 
he is the head of a family']. 



Sworn to and subscribed before me this day of , 18- 



[No. 4-009.] 

TIMBER-CULTURE APPLICATION. 

I, , hereby apply to enter, under the provisions of the act of June 14, 1878, 

entitled "An Act to amend an act entitled 'An Act to encourage the growth of timber ou the 

Western Prairies,' " the of section , in township , of range , cont-aining 

acres. 



Lajstd Office at , 

{Date) , 18—. 

I, , register of the land office, do hereby certify that the above application 

is for the class of lands which the applicant is legally entitled to enter under the pruvif^ions of 
the timber-culture act of June 14, 1878 ; that there is no prior valid adverse right to the snme, 
and that the land therein described, together with the lands heretofore entered under this act 
and the acts of which this is amendatory in the said section, does not exceed one-quarter 
thereof 



-, Register. 



[No. 4-073.] 
TIMBER-CULTURE AFFIDAVIT. 

Land Office at 



{Date) -, 18—. 

7^ , having filed my applicaiicm No. for an entry under the |)rovisiona 

of an act entitled "An Act to amend an act entitled 'An Act to encourage the growth of tim- 
ber on the Western Prairies,'" approved June 14, 1878. do solemnly that I am the head 

of a family \_or over twenty-one years of age], and a citizen of the United States [or have 
declared my intention to become such] ; that the section of land specified in my said application 
is composed exclusively of prairie lands, or other lands devoid of timber; tliat this filing and 
entry is made for the cultivation of timber, and for my own exclusive use and benefit; tliat I 
have made the said application in good faitli, and not for the j^n-pose of speculation, oi- directly 
or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever; that I intend 
to iiold and cultivate the land, and to fully eoniply wiih the provisions of this said act; and 
that I have not heretofore made an entry under this act, or the acts of which this it^ amend- 
atory. 



Sworn to and Bubecribed before me this day of . 18 — . 



93 

[No. 4-142.] 

TIMBER-CULTURE RECEIPT. 

Recei ei-'s Receipt, No. . Application, No. • 

Receiver's Office, , 

(Date) ■ , 18—. 

Received of the sura of dollars cents, being the amount of fee and 

compensation of register and receiver for the entry of of section , in ti)wnship , 

of range , under the first section of the act of Congress approved June 14, 1878, entitled 

"An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to encourage the growth of timber on the western 
prairies.'" 

$ . , Receiver. 

[No. 4-093.] 

TIMBER-CULTURE FINAL AFFIDAVIT. 

(Acts of March 3, 1873, March 13, 1874, and June 14, 1878.) 

I, , having, on the day of , 18 — , made a timber-culture entry. No. 

of the of section , in township of range , subject to entry at 



under the timber-culture laws of the United States, do hereby apply to perfect my 
claim thereto by virtue of the seventh section of the act of June 14, 1878, entitled "An act 
to amend an act entitled *An act to encourage the growth of timber on the western prairies,'" 

and for that purpose do solemnly that my aforesaid entry was made in good faith, and 

not for the purpose of speculation, or directly or indirectly fur the use or benefit of any other 
person or persons whomsoever; that I have not heretofore made any other entry utidei' the 
timber-culture laws of the United States ; and I do further that the section of land speci- 
fied in my aforesaid enti-y is composed exclusively of prairie lands or other lands devoid of 
timbfr, and that said entry was made for the cultivation of timber, and that I have planted 
on said land, cultivated, protected, and kept in a healthy growing condition for and during 
the period of eight (8) years last past acres of — ■ (here describe the kinds) tim- 
ber; that not less than trees were planted on each acre, and that there are now at least 

(here state the number) living and thrifty trees to and upon each acre, aggregating ui 

total the number of trees. 

Sworn and subscribed to before me this day of , 18 — . 



[No. 4-385.] 

TIMBER-CULTURE PROOF.— TESTIMONY OF CLAIMANT. 

(Acts of March 3, 1873, March 13, 1874, and June 14, 1878.) 
being called as a witness in own behalf, in support of timber 



culture entry No. , for = section , township , of range , meridian, 

in the district of lands subject to entry at , testifies as follows: 

Ques. 1. What is you name, (written in full and correctly spelled,) your age, and post- 
office address ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 2. Describe your timber-culture entry, giving the date thereof and the number of 
acres embraced thei'ein. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 3. What number of acres of said land was broken by you during the first year, 
what number broken during the second year, and what number broken during the third year, 
respectively, after the date of your entry? Give the day, month, and year, as nearly as 
practicable, in each instance, when the several breakings were done ; describe the method of 
breaking, and in what way your measurements were made. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 4. Describe the way in which the ground was prepared, and state how many acres 
of said tract were planted to trees during the second year of your entry, giving the day, 
month, and year, as nearly as practicable, when the planting was done, the kind or kinds 
of trees planted ; and state how you know the area or number of acres so prepared and 
planted during said second year. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 5. Describe the way in which the ground was prepared, and state how many acres 
of said tract were planted to trees during the third year of your entry, giving the day, 



94 

irioutl). iiiid TPar, as nearly as practicable, when the planting was done, the kind or kinds of 
trees planted ; and state lif 'v you know the area or number of acres so planted during said 
third year. 

Ans. .■ 

Que?. 6. Describe the way in which the ground was prepared, and state how many acres 
of said tract were planted to trees during the fourth year of 3'our entry, giving the day, 
mouth, and year, as nearly as practicable, when the planting was done, the kind or kinds of 
trees planted; and state how you know the area or number of acres so planted during said 
fourth year, 

Ans. . 

Ques. 7. If you have received an extension of time for planting on account of the destruc- 
tion^ of your trees, seeds, or cuttings, by grasshoppers, or by extreme and unusual drouth, 
state the year or years in which extension was had, and give all the particulars. I-Jovv did 
you proceed to obtain such extension ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 8. How many acres of timber have you planted, cultivated, protected, and kept in a 
healthy growing condition for the period of eight (8) years, last preceding, on the tract em- 
braced in your entry ? 

Ans. . ' 

Ques. 9. Describe the condition of the trees now growing on said tract, giving their 
average diameter and height, as near as you can, the kind or kinds of trees, the number of 
trees per acre now growing thereon, and state how you know the facts to which you testify. 

Ans. -. 

Ques. 10. Have you ever heretofore made any other timber-culture entry? If so, describe 
such entry or entries and state all the particulars. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 11. Is the section specified in your entry composed of prairie land, or w^as it devoid 
of timber at the date of your entry. 

Ansx . 

Ques. 12. State anything further within your personal knowledge which you have to offer 
regarding your aforesaid entry. 

Ans. . 



I hereby certify that each question and answer in the foregoing testimony was read to the 

claimant befote signed name thereto, and that the same was subscribed and sworn 

to before me this day of , 18 — . 



Note. — The officer before whom the testimony is taken should call the attention of the witness to section 
6392 of the I'evised Statutes, and also to section 6 of the act of March 3, 1857, (II Stats., '2..0,) hereinbefore 
printed (page (50), wliicli is made by statute specifically applicable to all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits 
required or authorized under the timber-culture acts. 



[No. 4-386.] 
[The testimony of two witnesses, in this form, taken separately, required in each case.] 

TIMBER-CULTURE PROOF.— TESTIMONY OF WITNESS. 

{Acts of March 3, 1873, March 13, 1874, and June 14, 1878.) 

-, being called as a witness in support of the timber-culture entry of • 



-, No. , for the 'of section , township , of range , meridian, 



in the district of lands subject to entry at , testifies as follows 

Ques. 1. What is your name, age, occupation, and residence? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 2. Are you well acquainted with , the claimant; and if so, since what 

time have you known him ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 3. If you have personal knowledge regarding claimant's timber-culture entry, give 
the date when said entry was made, describe the tract or tracts, and state the number of 
acres embraced therein. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 4. How far do you reside from the land described, and have yon had continuous 
per-sonal knowledge of said land and the improvements thereon during the last eight (8) 
years ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 5. Was the section embracing the entry of the claimant composed of prairie lands 
or other lauds devoid of limber? Describe the land embraced in said section, whether uudu- 



95 

lating or otherwise; and if any natural timber was growing on the tract named at the date of 
entry^ state the kind or kinds of trees so growing, and their number, situation, and size. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 6. How many acres of the land embraced in claimant's entry were broken by him 
during the first year, how many during the second year, how many during the third'year, 
respectively, after the date of entry? Give the day, month, and year, in each instance, as 
near as practicable, when the several breakings were done; describe the method of breaking, 
and in what way your measurements were made, or how you know the area or number of 
acres broken. 

Ans. . : . . 

Ques. 7. Describe the way in which the ground was prepared, and state how many acres 
of said tract were planted to trees during the second year of said entry, giving the day, 
month, and year, as near as practicable, when the planting was done, the kind or kinds of 
trees planted; and state how you know the area or number of acres so prepared and planted 
during said second year. 

Ans. . 

Qties. 8. Describe the way in which the ground was prepared, and state how many acres 
of said tract were planted to trees during the third year of said entry, giving the day, month, 
and year, as near as practicable, Avheu the planting was done, the kind or kinds of trees 
planted ; and state how you know the area or number of acres so prepared and planted dur- 
ing said third year. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 9. Describe the way in which the ground was prepared, and state how many acres 
of said tract were planted to trees during the fourth year of said entry, giving the day, 
month, and year, as near as practicable, when the planting was done, the kind or kinds of 
trees planted ; and state how you know the area or number of acres so prepared and planted 
during said fourth year. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 10. Has the claimant ever had the trees, seeds, or cuttings on the tract embraced in 
his timber-culture entry destroyed by grasshoppers or by extreme and unusual drouth ? If 
so, state the year or years in which the destruction took place, and give all the facts within 
your personal knowledge. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 11. How many acres of timber on the tract described has the claimant planted, cul- 
tivated, protected, and kept in a healthy growing condition for the period of eight (8) years,, 
last preceding, and from what source is your knowledge upon this point obtained? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 12. Describe the condition of the trees now growing on said tract, giye their average 
diameter and height, as nearly as you can, the kind or kinds of trees, the number of trees to 
the acre, and state how you know the facts to which you testify. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 13. Has the claimant, to your knowledge, ever made any other timber-culture entry f 

Ans. . 

Ques. 14. Have you any interest, direct or indirect, in this claim? 

Ans. — . 

Ques. 15. State any further facts which you may know of your own personal knowledge 
regarding the aforesaid timber-culture entry. 

Ans. . 



I hereby certify that the above-named personally appeared before me, and that he 

is a credible witness ; that the foregoing testimony was read to him before being subscribed, 
and was sworn to by him before me this day of , 18 — . 



j^OTE. — The officer before whom the testimony is taken should call the attention of the witness to section 
5392 of the He vised Statutes, and also to section 5 of the act of March 3, 1857, (11 S^ats., 250,) hereinbefore 
printed (page GO), which is made by statute specifically applieable to all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits 
required or authorized undsr the timber-culture acts. 



[No. 4-148.] 

TIMBER-CULTURE RECEIPT. 

(Jets of March 3, 1873, Maorh 13, 1874, and June 14, 1878.; 

Final Receiver's Receipt No. . Application No. 

Receiver's Offich, 



(Date) . 18—. 

Received of the sum of dollars cents, being the balance of pay- 
ment required by law for the timber-culture entry of tiie of section . in township 



96 

of range , — meridian, containing ytto acres, under the acts of March 3, 1873; 

rand March 13, 1874, and the act of June 14, 1878, amendatory thereof, entitled "An act to 
amend the act entitled 'An act to encourage the growth of timber on the western prairies.' " 

'■$ . , Receiver. 



[No. 4-217.] 

TIMBER CULTURE FINAL CERTIFICATE. 

(Acts of March 3, 1873, March 13, 1874, and June 14, 1878.; 

Tinal Certificate No. . Application No. 

' Land Office at . 



(Date) , 18—. 

It is hereby certified that, in pursuance of the provisions contained in the acts of Congress 
of March 3, 1873, and March 13, 1874, and the act amendatory thereof of June 14, 18/8, 
entitled "An act to amend the act entitled 'An act to encourage the growth of timber on the 

western prairies,'" ^^ , of , has made payment in full for of section No. 

, in township No. of range No. '-, — meridian, containing -j-fy^ acres. 

Now, therefore, be it known that, on presentation of this certificate to the Commissioner of 

the General Land Office, the said shall be entitled to a patent for the tract of 

land above described. 



Register. 



[No. 4-537.] 

TIMBER AND STONE LANDS -SWORN STATEMENT. 

Land Office at , 

(Date) , 18—. 

I, , of county, -, desiring to avail myself of the provisions of the 

^ct of Congress of June 3, 1878, entitled "An act for the sale of timber lands in the States 

of California, Oregon, Nevada, and in Washington Territory," for the purchase of the 

of section , township , of range , do solemnly that I* ; that the said 

land is unfit for cultivation, and valuable chiefly for its ; that it is uninhabited; that it 

contains no mining or other improvements ; nor, as I verily believe, any valuable deposit 

of gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or coal ; that I have made no other application under said 
act; that 1 do not apply to purchase the land above described on speculation, but in good 
faith to appropriate it to my own exclusive use and benefit; and that I have not, directly or 
indirectly, made any agreement or contract, or in any way or manner, with any person or 
persons whomsoever, by which the title which I may acquire from the Government of the 
United States may inure in whole or in part to the benefit of any person except myself. 

Sworn to and subscribed before me this day of , 18 — . 



* In case the party has been naturalized, or has declared his intention to become a citizen^ a certified copy of 
aiis certificate of naturalization or declaration of intention, as the case may be, must be furnished. 



[No. 4-371.] 

[The testimony of two witnesses, in this form, taken separately, required in each case.] 

TIMBER AND STONE LANDS— TESTIMONY OF WITNESS. 

-, being called as a witness in support of the application of to 



-purchase the of nection , township , of range , testifies as follows : 

Ques. 1. What is your post-office address, and where do you reside? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 2. What is your occupation? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 3 Are you acquainted with the land above described by personal inspection of each 
■of its smallest legal subdivisions? 

Ans. . 



97 

Ques. 4. When and in what manner was such inspection made ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 5. Is it occupied; or are there any improvements on it not made for ditch or canal 
purposes, or which were not made by, or do not belong to, the said applicant? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 6. Is it fit for cultivation ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 7. What causes render it unfit for cultivation? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 8. Are there any salines, or indications of deposits of gold, silvei^, cinnabar, copper, 
or coal on this land ? If so, state what they are, and whether the springs or mineral deposits 
are valuable. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 9. Is the land more valuable for mineral or any other purposes than for the timber 
or stone thereon, or is it chiefly valuable for timber or stone ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 10. From what facts do you conclude that the land is chiefly valuable for timber or 
stone ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 11. Do you know whether the applicant has directly or indii^ectly made any agree- 
ment or contract, in any way or mannei', with any person whomsoever, by which the title 
which he may acquire from the Government of the United States may inure, in whole or in 
part, to the benefit of any person except himself? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 12. Are you in any way interested in this application, or in the lands above described, 
or the timber or stone, salines, mines, or improvements of any description whatever thereon ? 

Ans. . 



I hereby certify that witness is a person of respectability; that each question and answer 

in the foregoing testimony was read to before signed name thereto, and that 

the same was subscribed and sworn to before me this day of , 18 — . 



Note. — The officer before whom the testimony is taken should call the attention of the witness to section 
5392 of the Revised Statutes (hereinbefore printed on page 60), and state to him that it is the purpose of the 
Government, if it be ascertained that he testifies falsely, to prosecute him to the full extent of the law. 



[No. 4-274.] 
DESERT LAND DECLARATION. 

No. . Land Office at , 

{Date) , 18—. 

I, - , of county, of , being duly sworn, depose and declare, that 

I am a citizen of the United States, of the age of , and a resident of said county and , 

and by occupation a ; ^at I intend to reclaim a tract of desert land, not exceeding one 

section, by conducting water upon the same, within three years from date, under the provisions 
of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1877, entitled "An Act to provide for the sale of 
desert lands in certain States and Territories." The desert land which 1 intend to reclaim does 
not exceed one section, and is situated in county, in the land district, and is de- 
scribed as follows, to wit: the of section No. , township No. , range No. , 

containing acres. 1 further depose that I have made no other declaration for desert 

lands under the provisions of said act; that the land above described will not, without irriga- 
tion, produce an agricultural crop; that there is no timber growing upon said land; that there 
is not, to my knowledge, within the limits thereof, any vein or lode of quartz, or other rock 
in place, bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, or copper, or any deposit of coal ; that there 
is not within the limits of said land, to my knowledge, any placer, cement, gravel, or other 
valuable mineral deposit or salines; that no portion of said land is claimed for mining pur- 
poses, under the local customs or rules of miners, or otherwise ; that no portion of said land is 
worked for mineral during any part of the year by any person or persons ; that said land is 

essentially non-mineral land; that I became acquainted with said land by ; and that my 

declaration therefor is not made for the purpose of fraudulently obtaining title to mineral land, 
timber land, or agricultural land, but for the purpose of faithfully reclaiming, within three 
years from the date hereof, by conducting water thereon, a tract of land which is desert land 
within the meaningr of the act. 



Land Office at 



{Date) , 18—. 

I hereby certify that the foregoing declaration was this day sworn to and subscribed before me. 

, Register. 

, Receiver. 

8198—7 



98 

[No. 4-074.] 

DESERT LAND AFFIDAVIT. 

No. . Land Office at , 

{Date) , 18—. 

I. , of county, , being duly sworn, declare, upon oath, that I am a 

resident of said county and ; that I am of the age of , and by occupation a ; that 

I am well acquainted with the character of each and every legal subdivision of the following- 
described land: the section No. , township No, , range No. , containing 

acres; that I became acquainted with said land by ; that I have been acquainted 

with it for years last past; that I have frequently passed over it; that my knowledge of 

said land is such as to enable me to testify understandingly concerning it; that the same is 
desert laud within the meaning of the second section of the act of Congress approved March 
3, 1877, entitled "An Act to provide for the sale of desert lands in certain States and Territo- 
ries" ; that said land will not, without artificial irrigation, produce any agricultural crop; that 
no agricultural crop has ever been raised or cultivated on said land for the reason that it does 
not contain sufficient moisture for successful cultivation; that the same is essentially dry and 
arid land, wholly unfit for cultivation without artificial irrigation; that said land cannot be 
successfully cultivated without reclamation by conducting water thereon; that said land has 
hitherto been unappropriated, unoccupied, and unsettled; because it has been impossible to 
cultivate it successfully on account of its dry and arid condition; that it is a fact well known, 
patent, and notorious that the same will not, in its natural condition, produce any crop, that 

the land is the ; that there is no timber growing thereon, but that it is devoid of timber ; 

that there is not, to my knowledge, within the limits thereof, any vein or lode of quartz, or 
other rock in place, bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, or copper, or any deposit of coal ; 
that there is not, within the limits of said land, to my knowledge, any placer, cement, gravel, 
or other valuable mineral deposit or salines ; that no portion of said land is claimed for mining 
purposes under the local customs or rules of miners or otherwise ; that no portion of said land 
is worked for mineral during any part of the year by any person or persons ; that said land is 
essentially non-mineral land ; that I am not interested in any way or manner, directly or in- 
directly, present or prospective, in any application or declaration made or to be made for said 
land or in the land itself, or in the title which may by any person or in any manner be acquired 
thereto. 



[No. 4-199.] 

DESERT LAND CERTIFICATE. 

No. . United States Land Office, 

, 18-. 

It is hereby certified that under the provisions of the act of Congress approved March 3, 
1877, entitled ''An Act to provide for the sale of desert lands in certain States and Territories," 
has this day filed in this office his declaration of intention to reclaim the follow- 
ing-described tract of land, viz : ; that he has proven to our satisfaction that the said 

tract of land is desert land as defined in the second section of said act, and that he has paid to 

the receiver the sum of dollars, being at the rate of twenty-five cents per acre for the land 

above described. 

It is, therefore, further certified, that if within three years from the date hereof the said 

, his heirs or legal representatives, shall satisfactorily prove that the said land 

has been reclaimed by carrying water thereon, and shall pay to the receiver the additional sum 
of one dollar per acre for the land above described, he or they shall be entitled to receive a 
patent therefor under the provisions of the said act. 

, Register, 

% . , Receiver. 

Note. — The word "heirs" is substituted in this form for the word "assignee," the Secretary of the Interior 
having declined to recognize the assignment of desert land claims. 



[No. 4-143.] 
DESERT LAND FINAL RECEIPT. 

Receiver's Final Receipt, No. . Declaration No. . 

Land Office at , 

{Date) -, 18—. 

Received from , of county, , the sum of dollars and cents, 

being final payment of one dollar per acre for the containing acres, at one dollar and 



99 

twentj-five cents per acre, the sum of twenty-five cents per acre having been heretofore paid, 

as per original receipt No. . 

, Receiver^ 

% • 



[No. 4-200.] 

DESERT LAND FINAL CERTIFICATE. 

Eegistei-'s Final Certificate No. . Declaration No. — — . 

Land Office at , 

{Date) , 18—. 

It is hereby certified that, in pursuance of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1877, 
entitled ''An Act to provide for the sale of desert lands in certain States and Territories," 



of county, State or Territory of , has purchased of the register of this 

office, and made payment in full for the land described as follows, to wit: , containing 

acres, at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, amounting to dollai-s. 

Now, therefore, be it known, that on presentation of this certificate to the Commissioner of 
the General Land Office the said shall be entitled to receive a patent for the 



tract ot land above described. 



Register. 



[No. 4-372.] 

DESERT-LAND FINAL PROOF— DEPOSITION OF APPLICANT. 

Ques. 1. State your name, age, occupation, and residence. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 2. Are you a citizen of the United States, or, if not, have you declared your intention 
to become such? (If not native born, proof-record must be furnished.) 

Ans. . 

Ques. 3. If you have heretofore made a desert-land entry, give the number and date thereof, 
and describe the land embraced therein. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 4. Have you conducted water upon the land embraced in said entry, and irrigated 
the same, and reclaimed it from its former desert character to such an extent that it will now 
produce an agricultural crop? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 5. What crops have you raised upon said land in each and every year since your 
first entry thereon under your declaration No. ? 

Ans. •. 

Ques. 6. How many acres have been sown or planted in each year, in what crops, and upon 
what portion or subdivision of the land, and what amount of such crops has been actually 
produced ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 7. What crops,. if any, bad been grown upon the land, or upon any portion thereof, 
and, if any, upon what portion, previous to your entry thereon? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 8. Would t^e land, or any portion of it, by cultivation without irrigation, have pro- 
duced any agricultural crop whatever, and, if so, what crop? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 9. Was there any natural water supply upon such land sufficient to fertilize or 
irrigate the whole or any portion thereof, and, if so, what portion ? State fully. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 10. Has the amount of water conveyed upon the land in any one season been 
sufficient to so irrigate the entire tract as to render the same productive, and, if so, what crop 
or crops would such irrigation produce? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 11. Has the whole tract been irrigated and cultivated by you in any one season? 

Ans. . 

Ques. IB. Has each smallest legal subdivision or portion of less than forty acres been 
irrigated or cultivated either during one season or diflerent seasons since the date of your 
entry? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 13. How much water per acre has been conducted upon the land, or upon any por- 
tion under cultivation, in any one season; for how long a time was it so conducted upon the 
land, and at what times or seasons? State fully ; 

Ans. . 



100 

Ques. 14. In what manner was such water conveyed upon the land, whether by pipes or 
ditches, and how was it distributed over and through the soil? State particularly and in 
detail, and describe the ditches as to theu' width, depth, direction through or around the land, 
and give the length of each. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 15. Have you at this time the right and proprietorship of water sufficient and avail- 
able to continue the irrigation of this tract and make perpetual reclamation of the land, and 
is it your purpose so to continue its use upon this land, and for the purposes of such 
reclamation ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 16. How was such right or proprietorship obtained, and by what tenure do you now 
hold the same? (Duly verified abstract of title must be furnished.) 

Ans. . 

Ques. 17. Have you the sole and entire interest in said entry, and in the tract covered 
thereby, and the water appropriated to irrigate the same ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 18. Has any other person, individual, or company of individuals any interest what- 
ever in said entry, tract, or water appropriation ? If so, give the name, residence, and occu- 
pation of each such person, and the nature, amount, and extent of such interest. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 19. Have you made or become the assignee of any other entry, or have you any 
interest, direct or indirect, in any other entry under the desert-land act ? 

Ans. . 



I hereby certify that each question and answer in the foregoing deposition was read to the 

applicant before signed name thereto, and that the same was subscribed and sworn 

to before me this day of — — , 18 — . 

, Register. 

, Receiver. 

Note. — The officer before whom the deposition is taken should call the attention of the witness to section 
5392 of the Revised Statutes (hereinbefore printed on page 60), and state to him that it is the purpose of the 
Government, if it be ascertained that he testifies falsely, to prosecute him to the full extent of the law. 



[No. 4-373.] 
[The deposition of two witnesses, in this form, taken separately, required in each case.] 
DESERT-LAND FINAL FROOF— DEPOSITION OF WITNESS. 

Ques. 1. State your name, age, residence, and occupation. 

Ans. — — «. 

Ques. 2. Are you acquainted with , who made desert-land entry No. — — , 

on the day of , A. D. 18 — , upon the ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 3. How long have you known the party' who made this entry ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 4. Have you personal knowledge of this land ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 5. Has water "been conducted upon the land embraced in said entry so as to irrigate 
and reclaim the same from its former desert condition to such extent that the same will pro- 
duce an agricultural crop ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 6. What crops hare been raised u})on said land in each and every year since its first 
entry by , under declaration No. , and by whom ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 7. How many acres have been sown or planted in each year, in what crops, and 
upon what portion or subdivision of the land, and what amount of crops have been produced 
thereon, and by whom? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 8. What crops, if any, had been grown upon the land, or upon any portion thereof, 
previous to the entry of thereon. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 9. Would the land, or any portion of it, by cultivation without irrigation, have pro- 
duced any agricultural crop whatever, and, if so, what crop ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 10. Was there any natural water supply upon such land sufficient to fertilize or irri- 
gate the Avhole, or any portion thereof, and, if so, what portion ? State fully. 

Ans. . 



101 

Que?. 11, Has the amount of water conveyed upon said land by -^-^^ in any one 

season been sufficient to so irrigate the entire tract as to render the same productive, and, if 
so, what crop or crops would such irrigation produce ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 12. Has the whole tract been irrigated and cultivated by in any one 

season ? 

Ans. . 



Ques. 13. Has each smallest legal subdivision or portion of less than forty acres been irri- 
gated or cultivated either during one season or different seasons since the date of entry ? 

Ans. . 

Ques. 14. How much water per acre has been conducted upon the land, or upon any por- 
tion under cultivation in any one season; for how long a time was it so conducted upon the 
land, and at what times or seasons ? State fully. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 15. In what manner was such water conveyed upon the land, whether by pipes or 
ditches, and how was it distributed over and through, the soil ? State particularly and in 
detail, and describe the ditches as to their width, depth, direction through or around the 
tract, and give the length of each. 

Ans. . 

Ques. 16. Has at this time the right and proprietorship of water sufficient 

and available to continue the irrigation of this tract and make perpetual reclamation of the 
land ? 



Ans. 



Ques. 17. How did you become acquainted with the facts relative to the irrigation of said 
land? 

Ans. . 



Ques. 18. Have you any interest, direct or indirect, in this entry, in the land covered 
thereby, or in the water supply used in its irrigation ? 
Ans. . 



I hereby certify that witness is a person of respectability ; that each question and answer 

in the foregoing testimony was read to before signed name thereto, and that 

the same was subscribed and sworn to before me this day of — >— , 18 — . 

, Register. 

, Receiver. 

Note. — The officer before whom the deposition is taken should call the attention of the witness to section 
5392 of the Eevised Statutes, (hereinbefore printed, see page 60), and state to him that it is the purpose of the 
Grovernment, if it be ascertained that he testifies falsely, to prosecute him to the full extent of the law. 



102 

UNITED STATES LAND OFFICES. 



Alabama. 


Dakota T.— Cont'd. 


Michigan. 


Nebraska — Cont'd. 


Huntsville. 


Watertown. 


Detroit. 


Valentine. 


Montgomery. 


Fargo. 


East Saginaw. 


McCook. 


Arkansas. 


Yankton. 


Reed City. 


Nevada. 


Little Rock. 


Bismarck. 


Marquette. 


Carson City. 


Camden. 


Deadwood. 


Minnesota. 


Eureka. 


Harrison. 


Grand Forks. 


Taylor's Falls. 


New Mexico Ter. 


Dardanelle. 


Aberdeen. 


Saint Cloud. 


Santa F6. 


Arizona Ter. 


Huron. 


Du Luth. 


Las Cruces. 


Prescott. 


Devils Lake. 


Fergus Falls. 


Oregon. 


Florence. 


Florida. 


Worthington. 


Oregon City. 


California. 


Gainesville. 


Trac3^ 


Roseburg. 


San Francisco. 


Idaho Ter. 


Benson. 


Le Grand. 


Marysville. 


Bois€ City. 


Crookston. 


Lakeview. 


Humboldt. 


Lewiston. 


RedAvood Falls. 


The Dalles. 


Stockton. 


Oxford. 


Mississippi. 


Utah Ter. 


Visalia. 


Hailey. 


Jackson. 


Salt Lake City. 


Sacramento. 


Iowa. 


Missouri. 


Washington Ter. 


Los Angeles. 


Des Moines. 


Boonville. 


Olympia. 


Shasta. 


Kansas. 


Ironton. 


Vancouver. » 


Susan ville. 


Topeka. 


Springfield. 


Walla Walla. 


Bodie. 


Salina. 


Montana Ter. 


Colfax. 


Colorado. 


Independence. 


Miles City. 


Yakima. 


Denver City. 


Wichita. 


Helena. 


Wisconsin. 


Lead ville. 


Kirwin. 


Bozeman. 


Menasha. 


Central City. 


Concordia. 


Nebraska. 


Falls of St. Croix. 


Pueblo. 


Lamed. 


Beatrice. 


Wausau. 


Del Norte. 


Wa-Keeny. 


Lincoln. 


La Crosse. 


Lake City. 


Oberlin. 


Niobrara. 


Bayfield. 


Durango. 


Garden City. 


Grand Island. 


Eau Claire. 


Gunnison. 


Louisiana. 


North Platte. 


Wyoming Ter. 


Dakota Ter. 


New Orleans. 


Bloomington. 


Cheyenne. 


Mitchell. 


Natchitoches. 


Neligh. 


Evanston. 



Note. — By act of July 31, 1876, the land offices in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were abolished ; and by act of 
March 3, 1877, the vacant tracts of public land in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois are made subject to entry and 
location at the General Land Office, Washington, D. C. {See Regulations, on page 27.) 



IISTDEX. 



Page. 

Act of March 3, 1857, (11 Stat., 250, ) to punish perj ury 60 

Act of March 3, 1875, (18 Stat., 420,) relative to Indian homesteaders 66 

Act of January 12, 1877, (19 Stat., 221,) relative to saline lands 72 

Act of March 3, 1877, (19 Stat., 377,) relative to desert lands 72 

Act of March 3, 1877, (19 Stat. , 403, ) final proof in homestead cases 60 

Act of June 3, 1818, (20 Stat., 89,) timber lands in California, &c 69 

Act of June 14, 1878, (20 Stat., 113,) homestead claims may date from pre-emption 

settlement 65 

Act of June 14, 1878, (20 Stat., 113,) relative to timber culture 67 

Act of January 28, 1879, (20 Stat., 274,) concerning certain land scrip 66 

Act March 3, 1879, (20 Stat., 472,) final proof in homestead and pre-emption cases 62 

Act of March 3, 1879, (20 Stat., 472,) allowing homesteaders inside of railroad limits 

160 acres 62 

Act of July 1, 1879, (21 Stat., 46, ) lands within granted limits or railroads in Missouri, &c. 63 

Act of July 1, 1879, (21 Stat., 48,) relative to loss by means of grasshoppers 64 

Act of May 14, 1880, (21 Stat., 140,) relative to relinquishment of claims 71 

Act of June 4, 1880, (21 Stat., 543, ) drought in Kansas and Nebraska 64 

Act of June 8, 1880, (21 Stat., 166,) homestead or pre-emption claimants who become 

insane ; — 65 

Act of June 9, 1880, (21 Stat., 169, ) pre-emption and commuted homestead affidavits may 

be made before clerks of courts 61 

Act of June 15, 1880, (21 Stat., 236,) purchase of land by timber trespassers 61 

Act of June 16, 1880, (21 Stat., 287,) repayment of fees, &c , on void entries 73 

Act of March 3, 1881, (21 Stat., 511,) additional time allowed homesteaders for climatic 

reasons 65 

Act of March 3, 1883, relative to fees of registers and receivers 74 

Actual settler's right is prima facie paramount 27 

Additional homestead entry, soldier's. See " Homestead, Soldier's Additional." 
Adjoining farm entry. See "Homestead, Adjoining Farm." 
Affidavit, penalty for making a false. See "Perjury." 

Required of pre-emption claimant 82 

Required of homestead claimant on application 84 

Same on final proof 85 

In case of commutation of homestead entry 87 

An application for adjoining farm homestead, (under last clause of section 2289, 

R. S.) 88 

On final proof of same 88 

On application to change pre-emption entry to homestead 88 

On application for additional homestead, (under act of March 3, 1879) 89 

On application for a soldier's homestead 91 

Corroborative in case of Indian applicant for homestead 92 

On application for timber-culture entry 92 

Timber culture, final affidavit 93 

On application for timber and stone lands in Pacific States 96 

In desert land cases 98 

Agent for filing soldier's homestead claims. See " Homestead, Soldier's Additional." 

Agricultural college scrip, issued under what law 5 

Location restricted to three sections in any one township and a million acres in any 

one State 6 

Receivable in payment for pre-emption claims and commuted homesteads without 

limitation as to quantity , 6, 51, 55 

Receivable in payment for only even technical quarter sections — not for difierent 

subdivisions equivalent thereto 6 

(103) 



104 

Pago- 
Alabama and Mississippi, Government lands within granted limits of railroads reduced 

to 11.25 per acre 19,20,62 

Alteration in pre-emption filings or entries, to what extent allowable 7 

Alternate sections of Government land within limits of grants to railroads. See '' Rail- 
roads." 

Appeal from local office to the Commissioner of the General Land Office 40, .50 

Time within which such appeal must be made 40 

From the Commissioner of the General Land Office to the Secretary of the Interior. 41, 50 

Time within which such appeal must be made 42 

Arkansas government lands within granted limits to railroads opened to homestead 

entry, 160 acres to each settler 19, 21, 63 

Assignees, action to be taken where entries have been allowed in the name of 75 

Of certain private claim land scrip 66 

Under the act authorizing repayment of purchase money, or fees and commissions 

on void entries 39, 73 

Auction, sale of public lands at ^ 3 

Bount}' warrants to soldiers and sailors receivable in payment for certain lands 5, 7 

Board of Equitable Adjudication, consists of whom, and what are its duties 58,74 

Rules and regulations by wbich it is governed 74 

Cash purchase of land at public sale 3 

Same at private sale 3 

Payment may be made in commutation of homestead entries 16, 62 

Payment by transferee of homestead entry 16, 61 

Purchase by timber depredators 4, 61 

Cemetery purposes, pre-emptor or homesteader may dispose of land for 53, 54 

Certificate of register and receiver to cash purchasers, pre-emptor, homestead claim- 
ant, &c. See " Forms." 
Certificates of deposit for special surveys, receivable for cash, for what and within what 

limits 26 

Children of deceased pre-emptor, their rights, and how they may be secured 9 

Of deceased homestead applicant, their rights, and how they may be secured. .. 15 

Of deceased soldier, their rights, and how they may be secured 22, 56 

Church purposes, pre-emptor or homesteader may alienate land for 53, 54 

Climatic reasons may extend to twelve months the time within which a homestead set- 
tler may commence his residence 14, 55, 65 

To what extent applicable in case of soldier's homestead 23 

College, agricultural. See "Agricultural College." 

Commissions and fees of register and receiver. See "Register and Receiver." 

Commissioner of General Land Office, duties of 58, 59, 69, 73 

Commutation of homestead entries 16 

Conflicting pre-emption claims 8 

Contest in pre-emption cases 12 

Same in homestead cases . - 18 

Same in timber-culture cases 31,69 

Kegister's and receiver's fees for reducing testimony to writing 74 

Contestant of pre-emption, homestead, or timber-culture entry has preference right for 

thirty days 18,71 

Must pay the expense of writing the testimony 74 

"Cultivation" of homestead claim, the term interpreted ]4 

Debt, homestead entry not liable for, if incurred before patented 26, 54 

Timber culture entry not liable 32 

Declaratory statement of pre-emptor must be made when, before whom, and contain 

what 6, 7, 49 

Forms of 82 

Deposits for special surveys, purpose and disposition to be made thereof 26, 58 

Desert land — definition, price, amount to be entered, and manner of acquiring 

title 35, 72, 73 

Application for, where survey has not been made 36 

Land must be in compact form , 35 

Final proof in case of desert-land entry 36, 37 

Law regarding, copy of 72 

Forms of application, affidavits, receipts, and certificates 97 

Diagrams of townships, register's and receiver's fees for furnishing 74 

Divorced or deserted wife, homestead rights of 12, 79 

Double-minimum lands, definition and explanations regarding 3 

Such lands reduced to minimum price if put in market prior to Jan. 1, 1861 4, 62 

Terms upon which military warrants may be located thereon 5 

Put in market before January 1, 1861, reduced to minimum price 4, 61 

Homesteaders allowed to enter 160 acres of 19,20,21, 62,63 



105 

Page. 

Drought, suflferers from, in parts of Kansas and Nebraska in 1879 and 1880 10, 14, 64 

Equitable Adjudication, board composed of whom 58,74 

Rules and regulations governing 74 

Even sections of land within certain railroad grants reduced to minimum price 19,20 

False swearing, penalty for 7,48,01,69 

Fees and commissions of register and receiver. See "Register and Receiver." 

In case of homestead entry 12 

In timber- culture cases 68 

For locating military bounty land warrants 5 

For writing out testimony in cases of contest 74 

For furnishing plats or diagrams of townships 74 

For furnishing State authorities a list of lands sold 74 

Final proof. See ''Proof, final." 

Floats, action to be taken in regard to entries by 75 

Fruit trees or shrubbery are not " timber" within the meaning of the timber-culture act. 30 

General Land Office, duties of Commissioner 45 

Grasshoppers, sufferers thereby allowed a year's absence from lands, if pre-emptors . . . 10, 64 

Same if homestead claimants 14,64 

Copy of law on the subject 64 

Guardians of minor children of homestead claimants, duties of 15, 22 

Homestead privilege — definition of the term 11 

History of legislation on the subject 19 

Qualification of an applicant under the homestead law 11, 53 

Must be twenty-one years old or the head of a family , 11, 53 

Or must have served in actual war fourteen days 55 

Or must be a citizen, or have declared his intention to become one 11, 53 

May be a woman, if the head of a family '. 12 

May be a divorced and abandoned wife, if the head of a family 12 

No distinction on account of color or previous condition 55 

Privilege allowed to certain Indians under certain restrictions 57, 66, 92 

Applicant may enter 160 acres of land in one compact body, not mineral 11, 53, 55 

Applicant must appear before whom 1 1, 12 53 

He must make oath to what 11, 12, 53 

Form of application and of affidavit on application — penalty for swearing falsely 

in such case 16, 60, 61 

Must state residence and post-office address 12 

Fee and commission to be paid register and receiver 12, 13, 15, 53, 54 

Form of receiver's receipt for such fee and commission 84 

Entry could originally be made only on surveyed lands 19, 40 

On unsurveyed lands entry must be made within three months after the filing of 

township plat 12, 15, 71 

Simultaneous applications decided upon what principles 12 

Mistake by entry in name of wrong person, how corrected 79 

Settlement must be made within six months after the entry 13, 55 

But for certain "climatic reasons," twelve months may be allowed "in which to 

commence residence " 14, 55, 65 

Period of residence and cultivation begins at date of actual settlement 13, 71 

Residence and cultivation must continue for five years 13, 53 

During which time settler must not absent himself more than six months 55 

Except in case of devastation of crops by grasshoppers, one year 14, 64 

In case of drought might be absent a year (only in 1878-79, and west of 6th P. M. ) . 14, 64 

Definition of "cultivation" 14 

^'Inceptive rights " of a settler. 13 

Final proof may be made at end of five years, and must be made within seven 

yeai's 14, 53, 54 

Possibly after seven years, in certain cases - 78 

No extension of time in case of devastation by grasshoppers 14, 64 

Failure to make final proof in due time for other reasons may be brought before 

Board of Equitable Adjudication 75 

Printed notice must be given of intention to make final proof 14, 62 

Form of notice (to register) of intention to make final proof 84 

Form of notice (for publication) of intention to make final proof 85 

Printed notice of intention must be conspicuously posted 8, 14 

Final proof must be made before whom 14, 15 

Final proof must show what 14, 15, 53, 54, 55 

Form of final affidavit by claimant 85 

Form of claimant's testimony 86 

Form of testimony of other witnesses 86, 87 

Claimant must pay final portion of fees and commissions 13 



106 

Homestead privilege — Continued. 

Page 

Form of final receipt for fees and commissions 87 

Register and receiver issue final certificate to applicant 13 

Form of final certificate 87 

Issue of patent by the Government 37 

Conversion of pre-emption claim into a homestead claim 15, 65 

Form of aflSdavit on application for such conversion 88 

Settlement dates from time of original (pre-emption) entry 15, 65 

Homestead entry may be commuted and the land paid for 16, 55 

- Form of commuted homestead affidavit 87 

Claim cannot be alienated before patent is received, except for school; church, 

cemetery, or right of way to railroads 16, 53 

Claim not liable for debt accruing before patent is received 26, 57 

Claim not subject to taxation 57 

Proceedings in case claimant becomes insane 15, 65 

Claim cannot be devised away from wife or children 15 

Widow and children of deceased homestead claimant, and her rights 15,53 

When wife and children are deserted by the husband and father, patent may issue 

to them 79 

In case of attempted transfer of claim, transferee may buy the lands of the 

Government 16, 17, 62 

Relinquishment of homestead claims 17 

Only one homestead entry permitted, except in cases of peculiar hardship 18 

Fees and commissions may be repaid in certain cases. See "Repayments." 

Contest on ground of abandonment 17, 54, 55 

Actual settler has prima facie paramount right 27 

Printed notice of intention to contest must be given 17 

Contestant must defray expenses of contest 17 

Contestant shall be notified of cancellation 71 

Contestant shall pay register $1.00 for giving such notice 71 

Contestant shall have thirty days' preference right to enter the land 17, 71 

A person already owning land may make entry of enough more to make the 

whole amount 160 acres IS, 19, 53 

Waiver of homestead right — what is considered equivalent to 25 

Cases appropriate for submission to the Board of Equitable Adjudication 78 

Homestead — adjoining farm entry — definition of 18, 19, 53 

Entryman need not change his residence to the adjoining tract 19 

Cultivation of original farm equivalent to cultivation of the entire tract 19 

Forms of affidavits, &c 88 

Homestead — additional entry; originally eighty acres only were allowed within the 

limits of grants to railroads 19, 62, 63 

Subsequently increased to 160 acres in most cases 19, 20, 62, 63 

Persons who, under the limitations of former law, entered 80 acres, are allo^ved to 

make an additional entry of eighty acres more 20, 62, 63 

Allowable although the original entry may have been commuted into a cash entry 20 

Allowable to a woman who has married since making the original entry 20 

Not applicable to persons who served in the Army or Navy ninety days 21 

Cultivation of original entry (if contiguous) is equivalent to entry of entire tract-20, 63 

But in any case the additional entry must be cultivated at least one year 20, 63 

If no vacant land adjoins the original entry, that may be surrendered and a new 

entry made elsewhere 20, 21, 63 

Patent for additional homestead not to be issued inside of a year in any event. . .20, 63 

Forms of application, affidavit, &c 89 

Homestead rights of soldiers and sailors defined 21, 22 

Entitled to 160 acres of public land ^ 21 

Including alternate sections along line of any work of public iraprovement..21, 55,56 
Soldier's time of service deducted from the five years' residence demanded by law -22, 56 
His entire term of enlistment, if discharged for wounds or disability incurred in 

the service 22, 56 

The same if he had entered land before enlisting 22, 56 

But he cannot take patent without actually residing on the land at least one year. 22, 56 

What proof he must present, and before whom 22 

Form of soldier's declaratory statement 89, 90 

Form of soldier's application and affidavit 90, 91 

Soldier can make but one entry 22 

Allowed six months in which to commence actual residence 22, 55, 56 

Any other entry of same land duiing the interim will be subject to soldier's right. 22 
Soldier's widow or minor orphan children may enter land on the same conditions 

as he 22,56 



107 

Homestead rights, &c. — Continued. 

Page. 
If soldier died in the service, they shall have the benefit of his whole term of 

enlistment 22, 56 

Soldier's widow or children need not always actually reside on the land 23 

Soldier's claim may be filed by agent 23, 56 

What the authorization given to the agent must contain 23 

Form of soldier's declaratory statement when filing is made by agent 90 

A longer time allowed soldier in which to commence residence, under what cir- 
cumstances 23 

A second entry allowed to a soldier, under what circumstances 23 

Register's and receiver's duties in case they suspect an agent's entry for soldier 

is not made in good faith 23, 24 

Homestead — soldier's additional — defined 24 

If a soldier has made an entry oi less than 160 acres, he may enter enough more 

to make 160 acres in all 24 

This right not transferable, nor subject to assignment or lien 24 

Application must be made in what manner, and accompanied by what proof 24 

Form of application 91 

Form of register's final certificate . — 91 

Indemnity certificates of location under act of June 2, 1858 66, 67 

Indians and their rights under the homestead law 25, 26, 57, 66 

Title to lands held in severalty inalienable for five years 66 

Lands or reservations not liable to pre-emption 47 

Insane pre-emptors, how their claims may be perfected 9, 10, 65 

Homestead claimants, same 15, 65 

Copy of law regarding 65 

Joint entry may be made when 8, 50 

Kansas and Nebraska, relief to sufferers from drought in portions of 11, 14,64 

Lands sold at public sale 3 

Sold for cash at private sale 3 

Pre-empted. /See "Pre-emption." Homestead entry of. /See ''Homestead," &c. 

If put in market prior to 1861 they are reduced to the minimum price 4,62 

Land offices are located where 102 

There are none in certain States 3, 27 

How to proceed in States where there are none 27 

Land officers, their duties, salary, &c. See ''Registers and Receivers." 

Marriage of soldier's widow, evidence of 23 

Military bounty land warrants. See "Warrants." 

Military roads, lands within limits of grant to 4 

Mineral and saline lands not subject to pre-emption 48 

Minimum and double-minimum lands, definition of 3 

Military bounty warrants must be located on minimum lands 5 

Minor orphan children of pre-emptor, rights of 9 

Of homestead claimant 15 

Of soldier .....22,23 

Minor and technical failures to fulfill the homestead and pre-emption laws, how 

remedied 75, 76, 77, 78 

Mississippi, Government lands within railroad limits reduced to $1.25 per acre 4, 19, 20 

Missouri, lands within limits of railroad grants 19, 63 

Naturalized citizens only can take advantage of the pre-emption law 6, 48 

Of the homestead law 11, 53 

Of the timber-culture law 67 

Nebraska and Kansas, sufferers from drought in certain portions of 11, 14, 64 

Oath. See "Affidavit." 

Odd sections, &c., reduced to 11.25 per acre 19,62,63 

Offered lands, manner of making pre-emption entries upon 6, 7 

Pre-emptor thereon must file declaratory statement within thirty days 6, 7 

Must make final payment within one year 6, 7 

A second filing therefor by the same party illegal since 1843 9 

Osage Indian trust and diminished reserve lands 52 

Paramount right of actual settler 27 

Patent, issue of, to cash purchaser 4 

Issue of, to pre-emptor or homesteader 37 

How To obtain, in case ot loss of certificate of register and receiver 37 

Penaltv ior perjury. See "Perjury." 

Perjury, penalty for " 7,48,61,69 

Physician's certificate as evidence of soldier's death 23 

Plats of township!^, land officer's fees for furnishing 74 



108 

Page. 

Pre-emption right— definition of 6 

Who are entitled to 6 

Kind and amount of lands that are subject to 6 

Declaratory statement must be made before whom 7 

On offered lands, proof and payment must be made within what time 6, 7 

Form of declaratory statement for offered lands , 82 

On unoffered lands, same must be made within what time 7 

Form of declaratory statement for unoffered lands 82 

On unsurveyed lands, proof and payment must be made when 7 

Filing without actual settlement illegal and void 7 

If survey finds two settlers on the same quarter-section 8 

If survey finds settler on a school section 51 

Soldier's time of making final proof extended six months after expiration of his 

term of service 49 

In case of grasshopper sufferers, time extended one year 10, 64 

Same to sufferers from drought in certain localities in certain years 10, 11, 64 

Written notice of intention to make final proof must be filed 8 

Notice of intention to make final proof must be published where and how often. 8 

Final proof must consist of what and be made before whom 8, 9 

In case of grasshopper sufferers, time of making final proof extended one year 10, 64 

Same to sufferers from drought in certain localities in certain years 10, 11, 64 

Final proof, written notice of intention to make must be filed 8, 62 

Intention to make must be published 8,62 

Published notice must state what 8, 62 

Notice must be published how ofeen 8, 62 

Final proof must consist of what and be made before whom 8, 9 

Form, of affidavits and testimony on final proof 82, 83 

Penalty for swearing falsely in such cases 48 

Payment may be made in cash, or what else 7 

Claimants who become insane, how perfect their rights 9, 10, 65 

Widow, children, or heirs of deceased pre-emptor, how perfect their rights 9 

Land of pre-emptor cannot be sold or alienated, except for what purposes 53 

Pre-emptor may relinquish — proceedings in case of relinquishment 9 

May convert his claim into a homestead claim 15,65 

May purchase at any time before his right expires 55 

May purchase after his pre-emption right expires 50 

Contest before register and receiver, how conducted 50 

Appeals from register and receiver to the General Land Office 50 

Appeals from the General Land Office to the Secretary of the Interior 50 

Cases appropriate for submission to the Board of Equitable Adjudication 75, 76, 

77,78,79 

In contest, actual settler has paramount right 27 

Contestant shall be notified of cancellation 71 

Contestant shall have thirty days' preference i-ight to enter the land 71 

Second filings, when permitted and when not allowable 9 

Pre-emption of location for seats of justice for a county 52 

Private entry or location of lands 3 

Private claim scrip. See "Scrip." 

Proof, action to be taken in case of loss of 75 

Final, in pre-emption cases 8, 9, 82, 83 

In homestead cases 14, 53, 62, 64, 84, 85 

In adjoining farm homestead cases 19 

In soldier's homestead cases 22 

In soldier's additional homestead cases 25 

In timber-culture cases 30 

In entry of timber or stone lands 33 

In desert land cases 36, 37 

Public sale of lands, manner of proceeding at 3 

Publications of executive proclamations shall be made in only one newspaper 72 

Railroads, legislation regarding price of lands within granted limits 19, 62, 63 

Pre-emptor's rights within granted limits of 3, 4 

Homestead rights within granted limits of 19 

Repayment of extra price of land supposed to be within granted limits when it 
was not 40, 74 

Registers and i-eceivers, duties of 43, 45 

Their salary, fees, and commissions 45,46, 09,71, 74 

Penalty tor giving false information or for refusing to give information 47 

If appointed after making entry ma}' perfect title 52, 53 

Kelinciuisliment of pre-eniption filings, manner of executing 9 



109 

Registers and receivers, &c. — Continued. 

Page. 
Of homestead claims 17 

Of original entry in order to make additional homestead entry 20 

Reliftcjuished land is open to entry by first legal applicant without action by the 
General Land Office *. 32,71 

Repayment of purchase money, commissions, and fees to innocent parties in cases where 

the sale cannot be confirmed 16, 37, 38, 39, 57, 73, 74 

Where land supposed to be double-minimum is found to be outside of a railroad 

grant. 40,74 

Instructions as to the method of applying for repayment 38 

Definition of "assignees'^ in connection with repayment cases 39 

In case of soldier's additional homestead, repayment made only to the party who 
paid 39 

Residence and post-office address of pre-emptor or homestead applicant must be given.. 7, 12 

Rules and regulations of the Board of Equitable Adjudication 75 

Salary, fees, &c., of register and receiver. See "Register and Receiver/' 

Saline lands, copy of statute regarding 72 

Not subject to pre-emption 48 

Manner of obtaining possession 34, 72 

School section, if survey shows a settler to have located on 51 

Purposes, pre-emptor or homesteader may alienate his land for 53 

Scrip, agricultural college. See "Agricultural College Scrip." 

Private claim, receivable for lands of what class, and under what circumstances. . 17, 67 

Manner of locating 65, 67 

Assignable in what manner 67 

Settler, pre-emption. -Seg "Pre-emption." Homestead settler. <See "Homestead," &c. 

Actual, has prima facie paramount j <ght 27 

Shrubbery and fruit trees not "timber" witLm 'Me meaning of the timber-culture act.. 30 

Simultaneous applications on the same tract by homestead applicants decided how 12 

Sketch maps, action in regard to entries by 75 

Special surveys. See "Surveys." 

States in which there are public lands and, land offices 3 

In which there are no land offices, method of procedure in - 27 

Stone and timber lands. See "Timber and Stone Lands." 

Surveys, special, why made and how procured 26 

Certificates receivable for what puposes and within what limits _ 26 

Suspended entries, rules and regulations for the adjustment of --. 75 

Swearing falsely. See "Perjury." 

Technical and minor failures to fulfill the pre-emption and homestead laws, how- 
remedied 75, 76, 77, 78 

Testimony, register's and receiver's fees for reducing to writing 74 

Timber culture, provisions of earlier acts relative to 28 

Copy of act now in force 67 

Who is qualified to make a timber-culture entry 67 

Kind of land that may be entered 29, 67 

Manner of application 29, 68 

Affidavit on application must be made before whom, and show what 68 

Fees of register and receiver 29, 68 

Amount of timber to be cultivated, and for what length of time 30, 68 

What constitutes " timber" within the meaning of the law 30 

Extension of time in case of drought or destruction by grasshoppers 30 

Final proof to be made before whom, and to show what 30 

Land not liable for debt accruing before final certificate 32, 69 

Contest can be made only by a person offering to enter the land 69 

Contestant allowed thirty days in which to enter the land - 71 

Forms of application, affidavits, &c 92, 93, 94, 95, 96 

Timber and stone lands in California, &c. , copy of law regarding the sale of 69, 70 

Applicant must prove the character of the land 33, 70, 71 

Qualifications of the applicant and manner of application 32, 70 

Notice of application must be published in a newspaper 33, 71 

Final proceedings 33 

In case the application is made by an association of persons 34 

Register's and receiver's fees 33, 34 

Forms of application, affidavits, &c - — 96, 97 

Timber trespassers may purchase the lands trespassed upon 4 

Copy of law authorizing such pui^chase 61 

Township plats, register's and receiver's fees for furnishing 74 

Trespassers on timber. See "Timber Trespassers." 



110 

Page. 
Unoffered lands, declaratory statement, proof and payment must be made within what 

time 7 

A second pre-emption filing upon is legal when 9 

Unsurveyed lands, pre-emption settlers upon 7 

Honiestead settlers upon 12 

Vacant tracts, should any be found where there are no land offices 27 

Waiver of homestead rights, what is considered equivalent 25 

"Warrants, military bounty, receivable in payment for what lands 5 

Locatable only on minimum lands 5 

Holder can take half the quantity of double-minimum lands 5 

Fees of register and receiver for locating 5 

Widow may pre-empt land 6, 48 

May enter land under the homestead law -. 53 

Or under the soldier's additional homestead law 22 

And children of homestead claimant need not actually reside on the land 15 

Of soldier need not actually reside on the land 23 

Wife, divorced or deserted, may make homestead entry 12 



nJ7,[|RARY OF CONGRESS 

021 048 293' 




